Narekavank Monastery

The photograph shows Narekavank, founded at the beginning of the 10th century on the southern shore of Lake Van. On the height stand the monastery churches with conical domes, surrounded by the village’s flat-roofed stone houses. In the foreground are people and oxen beside sheaves of harvested grain.

The monastery was one of the major spiritual and cultural centres of medieval Armenia. Grigor Narekatsi worked here, and his writings had a great influence on Armenian spiritual thought. For centuries Narekavank served as a place of learning, prayer and manuscript copying, until the region was emptied of Armenians and monastic life came to an end.