Excursion to Lake Sevan - Sevanavank monastery

Lake Sevan is a freshwater lake in the Armenian highlands. It is the largest lake in the Caucasus. It is guaranteed as the largest source of fresh water in the region. It is fed by 28 rivers and streams. Only 10% of the incoming water is drained by the Hrazdan River, while the remaining 90% evaporates.

Sevan originated during the early Quaternary when a Palaeo-Sevan, ten times larger than the present lake, came into existence by tectonic formation. The current lake was formed some 25 to 30 thousand years ago.

The Lake Sevan consists of two unequal parts called Big Sevan and Small Sevan. In the north-western part is located the Sevan's Peninsula which is famous for its medieval monasteries and khachkars (cross-stones).

The territory of modern-day Sevan has been populated since the 3rd millennium BC. The cyclopean fortress of Metsep dating back to the 3rd millennium BC stands just north of the city.

Sevanavank - a monastery in the north-west coast of the lake. The monastery is located on Sevan peninsula, which was previously a small island.

According to an inscription in one of the churches, the monastery of Sevan was founded in 874 by Princess Mariam, the daughter of Ashot I (who became a king a decade later). At the time, Armenia was still struggling to free itself from Arab rule.

The monastery was strict as it was mainly intended for those monks from Etchmiadzin who had sinned. Jean-Marie Chopin, a French explorer of the Caucasus, visited there in 1830 and wrote of a regimen restraining from meat, wine, youth or women. Another explorer visited the monastery in 1850 and wrote of how manuscripts were still being copied manually.

The two churches of the complex, Surp Arakelots meaning the "Holy Apostles" and Surp Astvatsatsin meaning the "Holy Mother of God", are both cruciform plan structures with octagonal tambours. The two are quite similar to each other in appearance. Adjacent are the ruins of a gavit whose roof was originally supported by six wooden columns. Some of the remains of the gavit and its columns can be seen in the Yerevan Museum of History.

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