Sevanavank
is a
monastery
located on the northwestern shore of
Lake Sevan
in the eastern
Armenian
province of
Geghark'unik',
not far from the town of
Sevan.
According to an inscription in one of the churches, it was founded in
874
AD by princess
Miriam,
the daughter of
Ashot I
who became a king a decade later. At the time, Armenia was still
struggling to free itself from the
Arab
rule. Today the two churches, Sourb Arakelots (Holy Apostoles) and Sourb
Astvatsatsin (Mother of God), remain both cross shaped with
octagonal
tambours
and quite similar in appearance. Beside them lie the ruins of a
gavit
whose roof was originally supported by 6
wooden
columns. Some of the remains of the gavit and its columns can be seen in
the
Yerevan
Museum of History.
Initially the monastery was built at the southern shore of a small
island. After artificial draining of the Lake Sevan, which started in
the
Stalin
era, the water level fell about 20 metres, and the
island
transformed into a
peninsula.
Due to easier accessibility (once it became a peninsula), good highway
and railway connections with Yerevan, a well developed tourist industry
in the town of Sevan town, and the picturesque location (although less
picturesque than it was before the lake level drop), Sevanavank is one
of the most visited sights in Armenia.
