Spitakavor St. Astvatsatsin Monastery
Spitakavor St. Astvatsatsin Monastery (Panorama by 360° Stories)
Prince E’achi Proshian first commissioned this monastery and his son, Amir Hassan II, completed the monastery in 1321 three years after his father’s death. The church is constructed with felsite stone, a fine grained volcanic rock that often has a white to light gray color. Spitak translates to “white” in Armenian.
The domed hall-type church, with a cruciform interior and square exterior, contains exemplary models of relief sculptures, which some scholars
attribute to the 13th-century artist, sculptor and illuminator, Momik, the same artist who carved several of the
reliefs at Noravank. A bas-relief portrait of Prince E’eachi and another that depicts Amir Hassan II hunting are displayed, respectively, in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and the State History Museum of Armenia.
After Gladzor University closed in the 1340s, Spitakavor become the cultural and educational center of the region and housed a calligraphy center that produced numerous illuminated manuscripts.
One of the most surprising finds includes a medieval inscription that mentions an Armenian purchasing a plot of land from a Jewish resident. Medieval Jews in this region of the world were prohibited from owning property. The inscription, in addition to the nearby Jewish cemetery in Yeghegis, may suggest that Jews experienced an unusual level of freedom in Armenian territory at this time.
Historical Attractions
A Mixing of Times
In 1987, the remains of Garegin Nzhdeh, a prominent Armenian statesman and military figure from the first half of the 20th century, were moved to Spitakavor. Nzhdeh was a member of the Armenian Revolutionary federation (Dashnaks) and was a staunch defender of Armenian lands during the First Balkan Wars, World I, and even into World War II.
Spitakavor St. Astvatsatsin monastery (Photo by Vladimir, AMAP Human Development NGO)