KOTAYK’S MAYRAVANK: AN 11TH CENTURY RELIGIOUS MONUMENT IN NEED OF IMMEDIATE CARE SONA AVAGYAN
Mayravank (Mother Monastery) is an early Armenian Christian religious
complex situated an arduous two mile trek from the village of Solak
in Armenia’s Kotayk Province.
What remains today is the St. Astvatzatzin Church (XI-XIIcc),
a basalt structure that is included in a list of “highly at risk”
religious monuments to be restored in the near future.
When Hetq asked Armenia’s Agency for the Protection of Historic and
Cultural Monuments, a division of the Ministry of Culture, what type
of restoration work would be carried out at the site, they couldn’t
offer any specifics.
Mayravank, lised in the Kotayk Province registry as a national
monument, has been handed over to the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Travelling along the path leading to Mayravank, located atop a cliff,
one comes across scattered evergreen trees and wild mint.
In the distance, you can make out Mayravank in the middle of the photo.
A Soviet-era sign warning that those defacing the church will be
strictly punished remains affixed to an inside wall of the church.
Local residents have placed a number of religious artifacts and other
miscellany on the altar site.