Mesrop Mashtots Monastery or St. Gr. Lusavorich Monastery was an Armenian monastery located in Nəsirvaz village (Ordubad district) of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan.[1] The monastery was located in the western part of the village.[2][3]
The monastery was founded in 456 by Prince Shabit of Goghtn.[2][3] The existing Armenian inscriptions in the walls of the church show that it was renovated in the 15th and 17th centuries as well as the late 19th century.[2][3]
The monastery complex had outer walls, porch, and subsidiary buildings which were longer extant in the late Soviet period.[2][3] The inventor of the Armenian alphabet, Mesrop Mashtots, once lived in the monastery complex. The church of the monastery was a small domed structure consisting of a hall, main apse, and two vestries, with Armenian inscriptions on the interior. Four pillars supported a large cupola with eight windows, adjacent to which was a small bell tower.[2][3]
The church of the monastery complex was still standing in the 1970–1980s. However, it was destroyed by June 15, 2006, as documented by satellite investigation of the Caucasus Heritage Watch.[1]
The monastery complex had also an Armenian cemetery with 300–320 tombstones which was located just north to the monastery. The cemetery was also destroyed by June 15, 2006.[4]