Vorotnavank stands on a ridge above the Vorotan gorge, about 9 miles (14 kilometers) east of Sisian in Syunik Province, Armenia. The Church of Saint Stephen was built in 1000 by Queen Shahandukht, ruler of Syunik, on the site of an earlier shrine. The Church of the Holy Mother of God, known as Surp Karapet, was built in 1006 and 1007 by her son Sevada. It has a triple-arched portico and a dome over a cruciform plan.
A high stone wall surrounds the monastery, which once had workshops, a seminary and an almshouse. An underground passage linked it to the Vorotnaberd fortress, used during sieges. The philosopher Hovhan Vorotnetsi lived and worked here.
An earthquake in 1931 collapsed the dome of Surp Karapet. Reconstruction has been underway since 1980, and the dome has been rebuilt.
Comments