CHURCH OF DZIRANAVOR

The town of Achtarak is rich in numerous monuments, which bear witness to uninterrupted settlement and more prosperous periods, from the early Christian era, as the nearby Agarak site reminds us, to the present day. This antiquity is confirmed by the remains of the Dziranavor (apricot-coloured) church built in the 6th century, on the banks of the Kazakh river, on the orders of Catholicos Nersey III. Not much remains of this great edifice, which follows the basilical plan of the first churches of Armenia, of which only the apse has been preserved as it was originally.