Nor Varagavank

Varagavan, Armenia, Armenia

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Nor Varagavank is a 13th‑century Armenian Apostolic monastic complex located 3.5 km southwest of the village of Varagavan in the Tavush Province of northeastern Armenia, on a high, forested hill surrounded by mountains and scenic ravines.

The monastery was originally called Anapat (meaning “desert” in Armenian) and later received the name Nor Varagavank (“New Varagavank”) after the famous Varagavank monastery on Mount Varag in Vaspurakan (now in Turkey) was destroyed by the Mongols, carrying with it the memory and sacred relics of that historic site.

According to surviving inscriptions, the site was founded in the late 12th century (1193–1198) by Prince Davit of Nor Berd, a member of the Kyurikyan branch of the Bagratuni dynasty, and served as both a monastic center and a burial place for the Kyurikyan family. The main structure is the St. Astvatsatsin (Holy Mother of God) Church, built in 1224–1237 by Vasak II, son of Prince Davit, with the architect Gazan Anetsi; it is an interior cruciform, exterior rectangular building with two‑storey apses, a cylindrical drum and dome, and particularly rare and elaborate decoration on its southern entrance, where mosaic‑style dark purple and light blue stones are carved with star, hexagon, and diagonal patterns, zodiac signs, and plant motifs.

The complex also includes the older Anapat Church (a single‑nave church with two altars), a two‑story burial vault containing the Kyurikyan family cemetery from around 1200, a chapel, and small and large narthexes, and a water supply system was installed in 1253 by a certain Shara, showing the monastery’s importance as a self‑sufficient religious and cultural center.