ZORATS TACHAR

Zorats Church, Zorats Tachar or Surb Stepanos is a church in the village of Yeghegis, Vayots Dzor province, built in 1303 by princes from the Orbelian family. Zorats Church is a monument of medieval Armenian architecture with distinctive features.

The building of the future church was laid no later than 1303 by the grandson of Prince Tarsaich Orbelyan, whose location was the castle in Areni. Construction inscriptions on the eastern wall of the building testify to the time of the laying, one of which mentions Metropolitan Stepanos of Syunik, who died in 1303. The year of laying the church fell on the period of 1242-1344, when the territory of present-day Armenia was captured by the Mongols. The military detachments put up by the Armenians were forced to fight on the side of the invaders; the main content of military activity was the struggle of the Mongols with the help of Armenian troops against the Mamluks and Turkic tribes who had departed from the faith, for maintaining power over the rich Armenian territories. Also, during the construction of the church, the Armenians had to go to war with Syria.