Chichkhanavank is located in the Lori region, near Shirakamut village in Spitak (the former Nalband village). The monastery is located about 500 m south of the current residential part of the village. A tributary of the river Pambak Chichkhan or Chichkan flows in the southern part of the church. The same name is given to the gorge through which the tributary flows. An exact name of the church is unknown, and it is called Chichkhanavank by the language of the people. The etymology of the name is associated with the sea buckthorn plant (chichkhan) widespread in the region.
Almost no historical information about the church has been preserved. But the walls of Chichkhanavank contain quite rich documentary material. In particular, almost all the stone masonry of the church have such master signs as there are on the early medieval monuments, for example, in Zvartnots.
The given master signs also allow to suppose that the church was built no later than the 7th century, since buildings with such signs are dated back to the 7th century at the latest. On the walls of the church there is one Arabic and one Aramaic inscription, which is a unique phenomenon, because almost no Aramaic inscriptions have been preserved, except for the land-dividing boundary stones left by Artashes 1. The church has a cruciform plan, a central dome, one altar and only one entrance from the south side.
Being located at the foot of the hill, the church was almost completely destroyed by the 1926 Gyumri earthquake. The church was partially reconstructed during the Soviet years, having lost its original elements and its former appearance. This option, however, was again destroyed by the 1988 earthquake, the epicenter of which was Nalband village in Spitak.
Chichkhanavank has reached our days in a completely destroyed state and was restored during the years of independence. In the reconstructed version, only the layout of the construction of the complex from the 7th century has been preserved.
From an architectural point of view, the current construction has nothing to do with the ancient monument. The research work was carried out upon the initiative of the «Country and Culture» organization in the region in 2008. The most interesting finding of the area is a round masonry with the height of about 1.5 m., which, according to one of the versions, is the remnant of a pagan temple-altar. This is evidenced by the layer of ash preserved on the walls of the construction.
All these findings, as well as the documentary material are the evidence of the fact that the monastery has been a holy place since the ancient times, and the turmoil of history and even two devastating earthquakes could not consign this significant holy place to oblivion.
