Sevanavank (in Armenian, meaning monastery of Sevan) is a monastery located on the northwestern shore of Lake Sevan in the eastern Armenian province of Geghark'unik', not far from the town of Sevan.

According to an inscription in one of the churches, it was founded in 874 AD by princess Miriam, the daughter of Ashot I who became a king a decade later. At the time, Armenia was still struggling to free itself from the Arab rule.

The monastery was strict as it was mainly intended for those monks from Echmiadzin who had sinned. Jean-Marie Chopin, a French explorer of the Caucasus, visited it in 1830 and reported about a regime without meat, wine, youth or women. Another explorer visited it in 1850 and reported that manuscripts were still being copied manually.

Today the two churches, Sourb Arakelots (Holy Apostoles) and Sourb Astvatsatsin (Mother of God), remain both cross shaped with octagonal tambours and quite similar in appearance. Beside them lie the ruins of a gavit whose roof was originally supported by 6 wooden columns. Some of the remains of the gavit and its columns can be seen in the Yerevan Museum of History.

Due to easier accessibility (once it became a peninsula), good highway and railway connections with Yerevan, a well developed tourist industry in the town of Sevan town, and the picturesque location (although less picturesque than it was before the lake level drop), Sevanavank is one of the most visited sights in Armenia.

Weight: 10.1 oz (287 grams) Dimensions: 4.¼"x3.5"x3" (10.5x8.5x8 cm) Price: $25.20