The celebration of the Holy Cross of Varaga in renovated Nor Varagavank. With this thought, the spiritual pastor of Berd goes to the church. The construction noise briefly disrupts the silence around Varagavank which is hidden in the greenery. The narthex with unique medieval architectural solutions, is being restored, while preserving the old, historical one.
Mary Danielyan, architect - Now you see the restoration works on the small narthex. Only one wall was left of it. This is one of the rare ones in Armenia: one is this narthex, the other one is at Arichavank and Shkhmurad.
Hovik is the master who restored Haghartsin, Arichavank and the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. This time reached a place of prayer at Tavush. “Building is already a grateful job”, he says, “the church restoration - is a God-pleasing duty”.
Hovik Gevorgyan, master - You feel good that God has given you this talent, and you can restore churches.
The monastery, which for centuries kept the sacred relic of the Cross of the Lord, is now being restored thanks to the charity of the brothers who spent their childhood here. They took an oath to restore the monastery.
Priest Aram Mirzoyan, Spiritual pastor at Berd - When we met Mr. Norayr Khachatryan, who, unfortunately is deceased, he said he spent his childhood around here. He played here with his cousin - our beloved Raphael Manucharyan. From an early age they took an oath to restore the monastery one day if they were able to. Thank God, their promise to God is being fulfilled - the monastery is improving.
The restoration works began in 2012, for the first time since its establishment in the 12th-13th centuries. Churches The Holy Mother of God and The Holy Sign are already rebuilt and renovated. The master specialists are visitors, the helping staff – are local residents.
Aram Babayan, Head of "Nor Varagavank" restoration project - At the beginning the project budget was 130 million drams, at the second stage - about 58 million. At this moment, the budget for the small narthex restoration is 54 million. Our monasteries are our spiritual image and destiny, a symbol of eternity.
The Priest Aram wishes hope for a new life every time he visits Nor Varagavank.
Priest Aram Mirzoyan - Nor Varagavank is our image, and, thank God, it is being renovated every day.
The desire of the restoring architect is to complete the unfinished work of her late husband, to hand the monastery to the younger generations, so that centuries later the bells of Nor Varagavank could be heard on the other side of the border.
Meanwhile, they promise to complete the restoration of the narthex in September, on the day of Nor Varagavank.
