Surb Sarkis Church, (The church is situated at a promontory overlooking the Kasagh River Gorge), . S. Sarkis was supposedly built in the 19th century upon older foundations. It looks to be a new church because of extensive restoration work done recently, but a small number of the older original stones carved with decorative relief and inscriptions (replaced with new stone and now sitting next to the foundation of the building) show its age to be much older. It offers a fine view to the three churches of Tsiranavor, Spitakavor, and Karmravor �
Karmravor Church, ((From the river) Take the Karmravor road across the Ashtarak Bridge and follow the road up the hill until it reaches the walled church to the right. A large cemetery is further east), . Also known as Surb Astvatsatsin, the church was built in the 7th c. and features a single reddish clay tile domed roof (hence the name Tsiranavor, which means "reddish"). It is a small church but quite interesting. �
Spitakavor Church, (Located along the Kasagh River, at the top of the gorge), . Spitakavor meaning "whitish" is a triple-aisled basilica built in the 5th-6th centuries (most likely between 540-557). The front façade is whitewashed and has a lengthy inscription. Walls remain but the roof has since collapsed. Note: Some confusion about the name of the churches of Spitakavor and Tsiranavor has seemed to have occurred due to the misplacement of the Russian markers located inside the two structures. �
Tsiranavor Church, (Located down the street south two houses and to the left where it dead-ends), . Tsiranavor meaning "apricotish" is a small church built between the 13th to 14th centuries. Its roof has since collapsed, but walls remain. �
Surb Mariné Church, (Located more central to the town), . S. Mariane was built in the year 1271 or according to some sources 1281. It has a beatiful umbrella dome that rests above. �
Ashtarak Bridge, (It is located directly below the church of S. Sarkis, at the point where the Karmravor road crosses the Kasagh River). The reddish stone arch bridge was built in 1664, and features two equal sized smaller pointed arches on either side of a larger central pointed arch. �
Kasagh River Gorge Monuments, . �
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Ashtarak
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Ashtarak - updated May 2024
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Ashtarak Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
