Land And Culture Organization Restores 7th Century Lori Monastery

PASADENA””Summer 2015 marked another successful campaign for the Land and Culture Organization (LCO)/Organisation Terre et Culture (OTC). LCO/OTC completed another project with the consecration of a 7th century monastery in the Shirakamut village in the northern Lori region, near the 1988 earthquake epicenter of Spitak.  LCO/OTC celebrated the completion and consecration of Tchkhanavank, a historical site that was discovered hidden under a hillside.  LCO/OTC launched this project in 2008 and completed the final phase with ten volunteers from OTC-France this August.  The reconstructed church, now renamed Sourp Khatch (Holy Cross) was blessed on August 22nd by Archbishop Sebouh Chouldjian of the Gougak Diocese. Present at the ceremonies were Board Members from Europe and America, Kegham Kevonian and Aram Gazarian of OTC-France, Haig and Hilda Manjikian LCO-USA, Nazaret Kevonian of LCO-USA, project architect Stepan Nalbandian of LCO/OTC Armenia “Yergeer Yev Meshagiut”