One of the famous monasteries of historical Syuniq of the 14th century is the Monastery of Spitakavor. This beautiful monastery is situated 7 kms to the north from the village Vernashen of the region Vayots Dzor, in a ravine. In inscriptions and written sources the monastery is mentioned with different names; St. Karapet, Anapat (Desert), St. Grigor (Gregory), Desert of Boloradzor and Gyulvanq.The latter is used by the native people. The monastery was called Spitakavor as it is built from yellowish-white stones.
The monastery complex consists of the church St. Astvatsatsin, the porch attached to it, the belfry which has noteworthy and inimitable forms and the dwellings of congregation which are in ruinsnow. All these buildings are surrounded with walls which are half-ruined today.
The church St. Astvatsatsin was built in 1321 by the prince Yeachi and was finished during the reign of his son Amir Hasan. As those who undertook the construction of the church, they were depicted at the haut-relieves of the northern and southern walls of the church. The church is very famous with these haut-relieves. Now these sculptures are kept in the State History Museum of Armenia. The church is small in size and belongs to cruciform type and in the four corners has two-storey chambers.
The principle expression of the art of the church St. Astvatsatsin is its western entrance. On its front portal decorated with stalactites Madonna with little Jesus in her arms is depicted. This haut-relief having plastic solutions is really considered to be the masterpiece of the sculpture of Vayots Dzor. The haut-relief of Spitakavor catches everybody’s attention with the beauty of its outline, the gracefulness of Madonna’s position, the sincere and cordial interrelations between the Mother and the Child, which fully expresses the feeling of maternity. This portal is unique with the height of the sculpture and the perfect plastics of the clothes creases. This sculpture represents the kind called «khandaghatanq» (tenderness), by which the master aimed at more vividly expressing the notions of protection and defence creating such a beautiful and inimitable image as Madonna of the church St. Astvatsatsin of Spitakavor is.