Aghoudì

A village in the Síssian region, where there was a famous monastery with a church of basilican plan, now destroyed. The monument in question is a burial place for two illustrious but unknown figures (on the tombs there are later inscriptions in Arabic and Armenian, from the 9th to the 13th century). It is a cube-shaped chamber surmounted by a kind of triumphal arch, formed by two piers framing a column that supports two small arches. The whole was probably completed by three small arches and three openwork stone crosses. The capital and the base of the column are of particular stylistic quality, with strongly archaic features (the capital is comparable less to Ionic capitals than to certain Aegean examples). The fact that a very steep flight of steps leads up to the platform above the tombs suggests that this upper area may also have served as a sacred area for ritual functions. A similar monument stands near the basilica of Otzoun. In the surrounding cemetery numerous other tombs survive, with rather rough but very effective relief.