|
Noravank (“New monastery”) was founded by Bishop
Hovhannes, Abbot of Vahanavank (in Syunik W of Kapan), who moved there in
1105 and built the original S. Karapet church.
According to Stepanos Orbelian, Hovhannes went to the
Persian (actually Seljuk) Sultan Mahmud and came back with a firman
giving him possession. He
gathered religious folk, and established a rule barring women and
lewd persons. Unfortunately,
the evil amira (lord) of the nearby castle of Hraskaberd (scanty ruins of which, not firmly identified, are
somewhere in the hills SE) plotted to kill him and destroy the
monastery. Hovhannes, who
was gifted in languages, went to Isfahan, cured the Sultan's sick
son, and came back with the title deeds to Hraskaberd and 12
nearby estates, and a trusty band of heavily armed men who pushed
the amira and his family off a cliff.
A century later, Stepanos says, a group of
"Persians" rebuilt Hraskaberd, but two
lieutenants of the Zakarian brothers kicked them out in favor of
Liparit Orbelian and reestablished the monastery's claim to the
estates surrounding. Bishop
Hovhannes led a holy life and worked numerous miracles, such as
catching in his hands unharmed a woman and infant who fell off
the cliff. During the 13th
and 14th centuries a series of princes of the Orbelian
clan built churches which served as the burial site for the
family. The monastery
became the center of the Syunik bishopric.
The nearest and grandest church is the Astvatsatsin
(“Mother of God”), also called Burtelashen (“Burtel-built”)
in honor of Prince Burtel Orbelian, its donor.
The church, completed in 1339, is said to be the
masterpiece of the talented sculptor and miniaturist Momik. In
modern times the church has had a plain hipped roof, but in 1997
the drum and conical roof were rebuilt to reflect the original
glory still attested by battered fragments.
The ground floor (locked
in 1999 during |
