Chichkhanavank or Svank, a medieval church is located north of Shirakamut village, Lori region.
Chichkhanavank belongs to the type of small cross-domed small churches that were widespread in the early medieval church construction. This type of solid structure is one of the unique manifestations of Armenian architecture, with many layouts, and spatially differentiated solutions. Internal և external cross և, these “free cross” type monuments are subdivided into single-altar, three-altar, and four-altar versions. Chichkhanavank belongs to the type of single-aisle church.
One of the typical features of this type of monument is the elongation of the structure in the direction of the east-west axis and the equality of the opposite crosses, and the dome is placed in the center of the composition. The number of similar churches registered in the territory of Armenia reaches about forty. Chichkhanavank is built of finely cut, pink tuff, lined with midis (three layers). The construction protocol of the church has not been preserved, but due to the dimensional composition and architectural style of the building, it dates back to the 6th-7th centuries.
Chichkhanavank is built at the foot of the hill, due to the slope of the area, the land brought by rainwater and snowmelt has constantly covered it. Prior to the restoration work, only the north-western corner of the Western Cross was about 1.5 m high outside the ruins of the ruined church.
Architectural-archaeological studies of the church proved that it was restored once during the existence of the structure. The study of the mortar processing of the reconstructed parts of the monument proved that the restoration was done at the beginning of the 20th century.