Tsiranavor Church of Ashtarak

Tsiranavor Church Ծիրանավոր եկեղեցի
Spitakavor Church, October 2014
Shown within Armenia
Basic information
Location	Ashtarak, Aragatsotn Province,  Armenia
Geographic coordinates	40°17′59″N 44°21′56″E / 40.299628°N 44.365417°E / 40.299628; 44.365417Coordinates: 40°17′59″N 44°21′56″E / 40.299628°N 44.365417°E / 40.299628; 44.365417
Affiliation	Armenian Apostolic Church
Country	Armenia
Architectural description
Architectural type	Three-aisled basilica
Architectural style	Armenian
Completed	5th century

Tsiranavor Church (Armenian: Ծիրանավոր եկեղեցի); literally meaning apricot-colored church is a 5th-century partly ruined Armenian church located at the edge of a gorge in the town of Ashtarak, Aragatsotn Province, Armenia.

Some confusion about the name of the churches of Tsiranavor and Spitakavor has seemed to have occurred due to the misplacement of the Russian markers located inside the two structures. New EU-sponsored information plaques with building descriptions adopted the wrong designations of the older plates thus amplifying the confusion.

Anyone that lives in the city around the area will tell you that Spitakavor ("Whitish") is the white church from the 5th Century, and Tsiranavor ("Apricotish") is the apricot colored church from the 13th Century. The name plaques at the churches however will tell you the opposite.

Nearby is also the church of Karmravor ("Reddish"), formally known as the Church of Holy Mother of God (Surb Astvatsatsin). It is a 7th Century Armenian Apostolic church. Furthermore, there are the churches of S. Mariane and S. Sarkis. In the gorge is a unique bridge built in 1664.

It may be seen across the gorge from the church of Surp Sarkis, but is easiest reached via the streets of the neighborhood that it sits within. Very close (just down the street 3 houses) and also sitting along the gorge is the church of Tsiranavor (literally meaning apricotish because of its color), built between the 13th-14th centuries.

Tsiranavor Church is a triple-aisled basilica built in the 5th century, and most-likely renovated the years between 540 and 557. There is not a foundation inscription, but evidence indicating a date for the construction of the church include the archaic T-shaped piers, the arches of the nave, and the two pilasters that survive at the north wall that do not correspond to those at the south wall. Traces of an earlier 5th century structure in the construction details have also been found.