Mount Ararat with the historic Khor Virap monastery visible at center-left

Khachkars

Some khachkars augment the canonical cross-and-interlacing program with subsidiary figurative elements: the Deësis composition (Christ flanked by the Virgin and John the Baptist), donor portraits, or animal motifs. These additions extend rather than replace the core khachkar grammar, as documented in inscribed examples catalogued in Helen C. Evans's Metropolitan Museum Armenia survey.

Source

Some khachkars augment the canonical cross-and-interlacing program with subsidiary figurative elements: the Deësis composition (Christ flanked by the Virgin and John the Baptist), donor portraits, or animal motifs. These additions extend rather than replace the core khachkar grammar, as documented in inscribed examples catalogued in Helen C. Evans's Metropolitan Museum Armenia survey. 

1427Khachkars