Shkhmuradi Monastery, Tsakhkavan, Armenia

The monastic complex of Shkhmuradi (XII-XIII) is located in a valley of Akhum (Varagajour) River, 6 km southwest of Tsakhkavan village in Tavoush Province of Armenia. It consists of a church, a chapel and two vestibules. Probably the monastery was called Shkhmuradi after the nearest village Shkhmurad.

The main church of the monastery, Surb Astvatsatsin (Holy Virgin) was built in 1181 from grayish felsite stone. It’s a rectangular in plan and cruciform inside domed hall with one main and 4 small altars. There are two-story side chapels on both sides of the main altar. The church has two entrances – from the south and west. The exterior of the church is rather modest; the eastern façade is decorated with a pair of niches. There are inscriptions on the walls many of which obliterated by age. The church is crowned with a dome based on cylindrical drum.

The vestibules are in the southern and western parts. The western vestibule built in the second half of the XIII century is a square hall with a pair of octahedral pillars. The second vestibule was joined to the southern wall of the church later in the last quarter of the XIII century. It’s a square structure without pillars.

Not far from the main church there is a tumbledown single-nave chapel, Khoranik. According to the inscription on western wall it was built in 1149, before the main church construction. The monastery was enclosed by walls which are now in ruins. There is a number of valuable khachkars (cross-stones) on the monastery territory, among which partially destroyed khachkar of the famous artist Kiram.

In the XVII century the monastery was partially reconstructed.

By Natalia Ghukasyan, www.building.am