SOURP ASDVADZADZINE CHURCH

Eghvard's Church of St. Mother of God is a tall, three-storey, orange stone building with a rotunda at 12 colonnes and richly ornamented. An inscription on the door indicates that it was built by Prince Azizbek and his wife Vaxax in 1301 or 1321. By its design and purpose, this church belongs to a group of monuments from the same period considered to be princely mausoleums, of which the monastery of Noravank in Zanguézour is the most representative model. The sculpted decoration, abundant on the second level, bears the imprint of the arts of the East, particularly Seljuq, as is shown by the use of stalactites on the second level, or the interior niche of the upper chapel, similar to the mihrab of mosques. The contrast is all the more striking with the very Christian representation of the Virgin and Child and the prophet Isaiah, sculpted on either side of a large cross. On the other façades of this high-rise building there are animal figures carved above the windows. The cemetery features many khatchkar dating from the 11th-18th centuries, some of which are erected in groups of four, sometimes on the same base.

The church of Zoravar, northeast of Eghvard, is also worth a visit. It is a small, two-storey, round, octagoconical building, built between 662 and 685, at the same time as the church of Zvartnots, of which it appears to be a scale model, with a more sober decoration