SOURP HOVANNES CHURCH

In Biurakan itself, the Church of St. John (Sourp Hovannés), built at the beginning of ^Xe siècle, at the time when Armenia had its capital in Ani, where the Catholicos had also moved, bears witness, albeit modestly, to the splendours of the Bagratide kingdom. It is a large building with a single nave and original carved decoration. It is worth noting the small columns framing the openwork windows perched at the top of the façade, which have retained their stone grills, like mashrabiya, the only specimens of their kind preserved in Armenia. It has recently been restored.