St. Stepanos Monastery

St Stepanos stands in a steep gorge running down to the Aras river in the far north-west of Iran, founded by tradition in the ninth century and rebuilt several times, most substantially in the seventeenth, with a fortified wall and towers enclosing a church, a bell tower and monastic buildings. The church is built in the Armenian manner with a conical dome on a drum, and the exterior stonework carries carved reliefs and khachkars, the Armenian cross-stones, worked in fine detail. It is one of three Armenian monastic ensembles in Iran inscribed together by UNESCO, with St Thaddeus and the Chapel of Dzordzor, recognised as the surviving eastern edge of Armenian architectural tradition. The setting, red rock and green river valley, is a large part of the effect.

What you actually see

• Carved exterior reliefs - fine stonework on the church walls.
• The conical dome on its drum - the Armenian church form.
• Fortified walls and towers - the enclosure around the monastic buildings.
• The Aras gorge setting - red rock and river below the monastery.

When to go

May to October; the far north-west has cold snowy winters. Two to three hours. It is quiet at most times. The border road along the Aras is scenic and worth the drive in itself.

Honest expectations

It is remote, close to the border, and the drive is long from Tabriz. There is little interpretation. Services are held rarely and the church is otherwise empty. Facilities are minimal.

Nearby

Jolfa is east; St Thaddeus Monastery lies south-west.