Shativank Monastery

Shativank monastery complex is located in Vayots Dzor region of Armenia, 4 km east of Shatin village, on a hill in the gorge. According to the testimony of the medieval historiographer Stepan Orbelian, the monastery was built in 929, during the reign of Abas I Bagratuni.

The monastery complex includes a church, monastic cells and utility rooms, which, as a result of subsequent reconstructions, have lost their original appearance. During the years 1671-1674. The church was rebuilt through the efforts of Magtesi Hakob, a merchant from the village of Dzhuga. Compositionally, it is a three-aisled basilica with three entrances and eight windows. On the western side of the church, there are traces of the gavit-porch. In the process of restoration, purely hewn stones of the old structure and khachkars were used in the masonry. The apse was once plastered and covered with frescoes. A fragment of the painting has survived.

The vast monastery courtyard is in places surrounded by a pyramidal wall. Along the entire length of the southern section of the wall, 35 residential premises and two-storey monastery auxiliary buildings have been preserved. Behind the monastery walls are the ruins of a water mill. In the XVII century. a rather large monastic community of 70-90 people lived here. On the territory of the monastery there was a school, a library, a scriptorium.

Photo By: Cosmo Deus