Church · Odzun, Lori
Odzun Church
Օձունի եկեղեցի · Church of the Holy Mother of God of Odzun
A domed basilica in the Lori village of Odzun, first built in the 6th century, with a separate early medieval memorial beside it where tall carved stelae stand in arched openings on a stepped plinth.
Where it is
41.0508, 44.6164
Why go
The church itself is fully preserved, so the visit is about carving more than ruins. Bunches of grapes decorate the western entrance, reliefs of the Mother of God, angels and crosses appear on the facades, and an arcaded gallery runs along the outside. The memorial about ten metres to the north-east, with reliefs on its single-stone columns, is the piece specialists come to see. Tradition holds that the Apostle Thomas came to Odzun to ordain priests and bishops. The church stands on a hill above the Debed canyon, within reach of the other monasteries of northern Lori.
Near Odzun Church
Monastery
Kobayr Monastery
A partly ruined monastery on a forested cliffside of the Debed canyon near Tumanyan, reached only on foot, where fragments of medieval frescoes survive in the main church.
5 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Sanahin Monastery
Sanahin's 10th-century monastery in Lori's Alaverdi community, where a library building of 1063 and an academy hall stand among churches, gavits and khachkars.
6 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Fortress
Kayan Fortress
Ruined walls and towers on a hill at the edge of the Debed gorge between the monasteries of Haghpat and Sanahin, rebuilt in 1233 by Bishop Hovhannes of Haghpat.
8 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Haghpat Monastery
A 10th-century monastery founded by Queen Khosrovanush on a promontory above the Debed River in Lori, grouped around the Cathedral of Surb Nshan.
9 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ