Categories: Antiquities

Church of St. Gevorg in Mughni

Mughni Monastery is located in the village of the same name north of the town of Ashtarak in Aragatsotn Province. The complex includes the main church of St. Gevorg (1661–1669) with a gallery, a refectory, the abbot’s apartments, and office premises. The buildings of the monastery are surrounded by a beautiful & well-kept garden and a wall.

The Church of St. Gevorg was built by architect Sahak Khizanetsi and his successor Murat in the crossed-dome architectural style.

Possessing considerable size, the church is one of the most interesting buildings of its time. The round drum of the dome is crowned with a tented roof. Under the dome windows, there is a relief image of evangelists.

The interior of the church features preserved fragments of paintings of the 17th century. The open three-arch gallery was built simultaneously with the church and differs from similar buildings. Its average span is made somewhat higher and wider than the side, which greatly enhances its architectural expressiveness. The gallery is crowned by a 12-column belfry rotunda.

Surb Gevorg Church (Mughni, Armenia) XIV century

Vigen Avetisyan

Recent Posts

Tork Angegh: Storm, Stone, and the Oldest Face of the Armenian Pantheon

Long before Armenia's kings raised churches over pagan sanctuaries, before Hellenism folded Vahagn into Herakles…

2 hours ago

The Goat on the Armenian Highland: A Symbol Older Than Writing

Introduction Long before Urartian kings inscribed their names in cuneiform on the cliffs of Van,…

3 days ago

“Summon Against Her the Kingdoms of Ararat”: Urartu-Armenia in the Prophecy Against Babylon

A Coalition Beneath the Mountain Among the oracles of judgment collected in the Book of…

4 days ago

The Tower That Never Left Us: From the Susi Shrine of Ancient Van to the Obelisk Above the Yerevan Cascade

If you have ever climbed the Cascade in Yerevan and looked up at the tall,…

6 days ago

Hayravank Monastery: The “Father Monastery” of Lake Sevan and the Legend of the Doves

On a rocky promontory above the southwestern shore of Lake Sevan, at an elevation of…

1 week ago

Scythian Ceremonial Swords and the Art of the Van Kingdom (Urartu)

Among the most arresting objects to survive from the Early Iron Age Near East are…

2 weeks ago