Avan (town)

Avan
Ավան
Avan
Ավան
Coordinates:
Country Armenia
Marz (Province) Aragatsotn
Population (2001)
 • Total 915
Time zone   (UTC+4)
 • Summer (DST)   (UTC+5)

Avan (Armenian: Ավան) is a town in the Aragatsotn Province of Armenia. The population is largely Kurdish. The village is home to the basilica style church of Surb Astvatsatsin that sits along a street just off of the main road beside the town cemetery. The large cemetery contains many khachkars from the 13th-18th centuries. Adjacent to it across the street is a stepped plinth and broken funerary pillar monument of the 5th to 6th c. A worn inscription may be found along the landings of the second and third steps. There is a newly built church also by the name of Surb Astvatsatsin that sits near the main highway closer to the center of town, and is said to have been constructed upon old foundations. Some confusion may arise since two churches in the town are referred to as S. Astvatsatsin, but one of them may actually be the church of S. Hovhannes. They are said to have been first built in the 5th to 6th c., were reconstructed in the 13th c., and have sat in ruins until recently since the earthquake of 1679.

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