Ardvi village

It is the Surbanes Monastery, better known as St. Hovhannes of Ardvi, on the northwestern edge of the village of Ardvi in Lori province. The complex consists of two barrel-vaulted churches, a bell tower, church and utility buildings and a surrounding wall.

In front of the altar of the northern church lies Hovhannes III Odznetsi, the 34th Catholicos of All Armenians and a renowned 8th-century theologian and philosopher. His best-known work is the Canon Book of the Armenians (Kanonagirk Hayots), the first comprehensive compilation of Armenian church law, and the monastery also bears his name.

The churches are built of small, irregularly cut andesite stones: the northern church has a square prayer hall, and the southern hall has tombstones set into its floor. A small hall was added to the western facade in the 13th century, and in the 17th century a bell tower with a cubical base and a six-column rotunda. Nearby are the ruins of monastic cells and service buildings, and to the west a medieval cemetery with finely carved khachkars (cross-stones).

Several scenes of Sergei Parajanov's acclaimed film The Color of Pomegranates were filmed at the monastery.

For centuries the site has been a place of pilgrimage. It was renovated in the 19th and 20th centuries through the efforts of Stepanos Taryan and Melikset Kalantaryan, and more recently by the benefactor Vahe Karapetyan.