Akhtala Monastery

Akhtala Monastery, also known as Pghindzavank (copper monastery), is a 10th-century Armenian Apostolic monastery in the town of Akhtala, in Lori. It was built as a walled, fortified complex on a plateau above the Debed river, and the fortress helped guard the northwestern approaches to Armenia. The monastery no longer functions as an active religious site.

Inside the main church, painted scenes spread across the walls and inner surfaces in the Armenian-Chalcedonian style — a tradition tied to Armenia's Chalcedonian Christian communities. Ivane I Zakarian, a Zakarid ruler, commissioned the paintings between 1205 and 1216.

Akhtala is a town in the Lori region, roughly 110 km north of Yerevan in a straight line.