Wooden door of the Surb Karapet Monastery of Mush, 1312

The double-leaf wooden door of the Surb Karapet Monastery of Mush, made by Armenian craftsmen in 1312. It is now kept in Canada, in a closed private collection.

Surb Karapet of Mush, or Glakavank, was one of the most important ancient monasteries of historical Western Armenia. The large complex, made up of several churches and shrines, stood north-west of the town of Mush, on the slope of Mount Karke. For centuries the monastery was a centre of Armenian writing, education and culture; it had a large repository of ancient manuscripts (matenadaran) and was in effect the second spiritual centre of Armenia after Etchmiadzin (Vagharshapat). After the Armenian Genocide of 1915 the monastery was completely destroyed.

The door leaves are covered with dense carved patterns, star-shaped rosettes and standing figures of saints, with Armenian inscriptions at the top and bottom.