Noravank Monastery

Noravanq is a monastery complex built in the 13th and 14th centuries on a ledge above the Amaghu river gorge, its walls facing sheer, brick-red cliffs. The site is sometimes called Amaghu Noravanq, to set it apart from another monastery of the same name, Bkheno Noravanq, near Goris.

Its best-known structure is the two-storey Surb Astvatsatsin (Holy Mother of God) church, reached on the upper level by a narrow stone staircase that projects from the building's face.

In the 13th and 14th centuries Noravanq served as the seat of the bishops of Syunik, and grew into a center of learning tied closely to the nearby university and library of Gladzor.

Noravanq sits in Vayots Dzor province, near the town of Yeghegnadzor, roughly 82 km southeast of Yerevan as the crow flies.