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Noravank
is a
13th
century
Armenian Apostolic Church
monastery,
located 122 km from
Yerevan
in a narrow gorge made by the Darichay river, nearby the city of
Yeghegnadzor,
Armenia.
The gorge is known for its tall, sheer, brick-red cliffs, directly
across from the monastery. The monastery is best known for its
two-storey S. Astvatsatsin church. The monastery is sometimes called
Amaghu-Noravank, Amaghu being the name of a small recently destroyed
village above the canyon, in order to distinguish it from
Bgheno-Noravank,
near
Goris.
In the 13th–14th centuries the monastery became a residence of
Syunik's
bishops and, later, cultural center of Armenia closely connected with
many of the local seats of learning, especially with Gladzor's famed
university and library. The monastic complex includes the church of S.
Karapet, S. Grigor chapel with a vaulted hall, and the church of S.
Astvatsatsin (Holy Mother of God). Ruins of various civil buildings and
khachkars
are found both inside and outside of the compound walls. Noravank was
the residence of the
Orbelian
princes. The architect Siranes and the remarkable miniature painter and
sculptor
Momik
worked here in the latter part of the thirteenth and early fourteenth
century.
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