The Astvatsankal Monastery is an Armenian Monastery complex in

Aragatsotn Province Aragatsotn (, ) is a administrative divisions of Armenia, province (''Marz (country subdivision), marz'') of Armenia. It is located in the western part of the country. The capital and largest city of the province is the town of Ashtarak. The Sta ...

, between the villages of Yernjatap and Hartavan. It was built in the 4th-13th centuries. The original chapel of the church was built in the 5th or 6th century. The main church was added to the chapel in 1244 under the commission of Prince K'urd of the

Vachutian dynasty Vachutian dynasty (in Armenian Վաչուտյան տուն or Վաչուտյաններ) was an Armenian noble feudal family headed by a line of princes with the title "Prince of Princes" (in Armenian Իշխանաց իշխան pronounced Ishkhanat ...

and his wife Xorisali, as known from an inscription: A large ''

gavit A ''gavit'' (; gawit’) or ''zhamatun'' (Armenian: ) is a congressional room or mausoleum added to the entrance of a church, and therefore often contiguous to its west side, in a Medieval Armenian monastery. It served as narthex (entrance to the ...

'' or

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of Early Christian art and architecture, early Christian and Byzantine architecture, Byzantine basilicas and Church architecture, churches consisting of the entrance or Vestibule (architecture), ve ...

was built right after, circa 1250. This is one of the famous examples of

Armenian architecture Armenian architecture comprises architectural works with an aesthetic or historical connection to the Armenians, Armenian people. It is difficult to situate this architectural style within precise geographical or chronological limits, but many o ...

in the 13th century adopting the use of ''

muqarnas Muqarnas (), also known in Iberian architecture as Mocárabe (from ), is a form of three-dimensional decoration in Islamic architecture in which rows or tiers of niche-like elements are projected over others below. It is an archetypal form of I ...

'' designs, spurred by the influence of contemporary Islamic architecture. Examples of this can be found in the Geghard Monastery, the Gandzasar Monastery as well (all in present-day Armenia), and at the Church of St Gregory of the Illuminator in Ani. In many of these examples, muqarnas vaults are recurring features in the ''gavit''s (narthexes) of the churches, which were the locus of much innovation and experimentation in medieval Armenian architecture. These borrowings of Islamic architectural motifs may have been due to either Ilkhanid or Seljuk influences in the region, although the wide geographic spread of muqarnas usage in this period makes it difficult to pinpoint any specific influence with certainty. The gavit collapsed in the

1988 Armenian earthquake The 1988 Armenian earthquake, also known as the Spitak earthquake (), occurred on December 7 at with a surface-wave magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum MSK intensity of X (''Devastating''). The shock occurred in the northern region of Armenia (then ...

, but has since been reconstructed.

References

{{Authority control Christian monasteries in Armenia 13th-century establishments in Europe Christian monasteries established in the 5th century