Few places in Armenia are as striking at first sight as Noravank. After driving through a narrow gorge between red rock walls that seem to close in over the road, the canyon suddenly opens up and, at the far end, a monastery of golden and reddish stone appears, blending into the cliffs. It is one of the most beautiful and most photographed sites in the country, built in the 13th century, when the region flourished under the patronage of the Orbelian princes.
Its most famous building is the church of Surb Astvatsatsin (the Mother of God), known as Burtelashen, a two-storey church-mausoleum with a very narrow outside staircase of projecting steps that climbs the façade up to the upper chapel: a dizzying sight that became the monastery's symbol. The name behind many of these marvels is Momik, architect, sculptor and miniaturist, one of the great artists of medieval Armenia, who worked and died here.
This guide helps you visit Noravank with purpose: how to get there from Yerevan, how to combine it with Areni, Khor Virap and the wineries in a single day, what time to go to see the canyon in its best light, what to look for inside the grounds (the staircase, Momik's reliefs, the khachkars) and where to eat or sleep nearby. It's one of the must-see sights of southern Armenia, for both the art and the landscape.
Noravank ('the new monastery') was founded in the late 12th century and flourished in the 13th and 14th centuries as the seat of the bishops of Syunik and the burial place of the powerful Orbelian princes, who ruled the region of Syunik and Vayots Dzor under Mongol sovereignty. Its main churches — Surb Karapet and above all Surb Astvatsatsin, or Burtelashen, the two-storey church-mausoleum with its famous outside staircase — were built between the 13th and 14th centuries. Many of its reliefs and khachkars, and Burtelashen itself, are the work of the great architect, sculptor and miniaturist Momik, active around 1300-1339, who is buried on the grounds. The monastery was an important religious and cultural centre, survived earthquakes and centuries of foreign rule, and is today one of the star sights of the south. That story of princes, artists and red stone is told on our history page.
Read the full history ↓Armenia's deep south: Noravank Monastery between walls of red rock, Areni and the oldest winery in the world, the mountain spa town of Jermuk, and the great Tatev Monastery, reached by the longest non-stop cable car on the planet.
Read the history of The south: Vayots Dzor and Syunik →They depart from Erevan, 83 km away. If you book from this link we earn a commission and you pay no more.
No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
To reach Noravank you have to travel through a narrow gorge, between walls of red rock that seem to close in over the road. And when the canyon finally opens up, there it is at the far end, tucked against the cliffs: one of the most beautiful monasteries in Armenia. Golden and reddish stone that glows like embers at sunset, churches with conical domes and a tower-mausoleum with a dizzying staircase climbing up its façade. Few places sum up so well the Armenian genius for blending architecture and landscape.
Noravank, 'the new monastery' (a name that is already eight hundred years old), stands in the province of Vayots Dzor, in the south of the country, at the end of the Amaghu canyon, a branch of the great Gnishik canyon. Its story is that of the last great flowering of medieval Armenian art, in the 13th and 14th centuries, when the country lived under Mongol rule but kept, in the hands of local princes, an astonishing cultural vitality.
Behind its beauty there are two main figures. One is a dynasty, the Orbelians, who made the monastery their episcopal see and their pantheon. The other is an artist, Momik, who left his finest work here and chose to be buried here.
Noravank was founded in the late 12th century by Bishop Hovhannes, probably on top of older structures. Its great moment came in the 13th century, though, thanks to the house of Orbelian, a powerful princely family that ruled the region of Syunik and Vayots Dzor. Armenia fell under the Mongols after the invasions of the first half of the 13th century, and the Orbelians knew how to negotiate their position. They paid tribute and obtained privileges. In exchange for stability, they kept a wide margin of autonomy that let them govern, trade and, above all, build.
Under their patronage, Noravank became the seat of the bishops of Syunik and the family's dynastic mausoleum. Princes Smbat, Tarsayich, Elikum and Burtel and their descendants paid for churches, chapels, khachkars and works of art, and many of them were buried within the complex, under gravestones that can still be seen in the floors of the churches. The monastery was also a religious and cultural centre and a place where manuscripts were copied, a hub of intellectual life in the south of the country.
The jewel of that patronage is the church of Surb Astvatsatsin, known as Burtelashen ('built by Burtel') because Prince Burtel Orbelian commissioned it around 1339. It is a two-storey church-mausoleum, with a burial crypt below and a chapel above. You reach it by two narrow flights of projecting steps set into the façade, with no handrail. That bold, almost impossible image became the symbol of Noravank and one of the most recognisable sights in Armenia.
If Noravank has a face, it is Momik's. This exceptional artist, active around 1270-1339, was at once an architect, sculptor, miniaturist and manuscript illuminator, a rare combination even in his own time. He probably trained in the tradition of the great Armenian workshops. He worked for the Orbelians and spent much of his life at Noravank, where he left a body of work that ranks him among the greatest artists of medieval Armenia.
The monastery's most admired reliefs are attributed to Momik or his workshop. Above the door of the Burtelashen there is the figure of God the Father with Eastern features, together with Adam and the dove of the Holy Spirit. Other reliefs show the Virgin and Child flanked by archangels, and the tympana carry scenes of the Deesis. Several khachkars are also attributed to him (these are the stone crosses carved like lace that are a hallmark of Armenian art), among them a masterpiece signed in 1308. His sculpture blends local tradition with an expressiveness and level of detail rarely found in the region's medieval stonework.
Momik did more than carve stone. He illuminated manuscripts that are kept today in the Matenadaran in Yerevan, the country's great archive of ancient codices. He died in 1339, the same year the Burtelashen he had designed was completed, and was buried at Noravank under a small, delicate khachkar that, according to tradition, he had prepared himself. Visiting Noravank is, to a large extent, visiting his work.
Noravank's golden age was intense but did not last forever. Even in Momik's lifetime, southern Armenia was feeling pressure from new powers, and in the late 14th century the devastating campaigns of Tamerlane struck the region. Over the following centuries, Vayots Dzor and the whole country were caught in the long struggle between the Safavid Persian and Ottoman empires, which divided up the Caucasus again and again, bringing wars, deportations and depopulation. The power of the Orbelians faded, and the monastery's splendour faded with it.
Natural disasters came on top of these historical misfortunes. The area is seismic, and several earthquakes over the centuries badly damaged the churches of Noravank. Domes collapsed, walls cracked and the gavit had to be rebuilt more than once. The monastery gradually lost its role as an episcopal see and cultural centre and went into a long decline. For much of the modern era it lay half-abandoned, exposed to the elements and forgotten, a beautiful stone skeleton at the bottom of its canyon.
During the Soviet period (Armenia was part of the USSR from 1920-1922 to 1991), the monastery, like so many others, stopped being used for worship, but it was recognised and studied as a historic monument. That recognition laid the groundwork for its recovery.
Noravank's revival came with the restoration campaigns of the last decades of the 20th century and the early 21st. The buildings damaged by earthquakes were consolidated and carefully repaired. This gave the complex, and especially Burtel's two-storey church, back much of its original form. The road up the canyon made access easier, and the monastery went from a forgotten ruin to one of the country's star attractions.
Today Noravank, together with Khor Virap and Tatev, is one of Armenia's must-see sights and the centrepiece of the southern tourist route. It pairs well with the nearby Areni-1 cave, where the world's oldest winery and leather shoe were found, both more than six thousand years old. It also pairs well with the wineries in the village of Areni, the cradle of Armenian wine. The contrast is fascinating: within just a few kilometres, the canyon brings together the oldest winemaking on the planet, medieval art at its peak and spectacular geological scenery.
Even so, the best of Noravank is still the direct encounter with the stone. Climb the impossible staircase of the Burtelashen with care, look for Momik's reliefs and touch the khachkars. Then stay until sunset, when the canyon turns red and the monastery seems to burn in silence. Eight hundred years on, the 'new monastery' still leaves its visitors speechless.
