Historical overview
Norashen village is located in Hadrut region, 5 km southeast of Hadrut town. Azeris settled in the predominantly Armenian-populated village in the 1960s, but as the number gradually increased, the village was finally emptied of Armenians in 1989. It was liberated by the Armenian army in 1993. It has been under Azerbaijani occupation since October 2020.
Architectural-compositional examination
The church is a single-nave basilica with a rectangular plan. The twin vestries are located on the eastern side, next to the semicircular altar. It is 16.4 meters long, 2 meters wide and 5 meters high. It has 4 small, one big windows. The entrance used to be opened from the west, but due to the slope of the terrain, the western wall was mostly covered with soil, which caused the opening of a new entrance in the northern part (Fig. 2), and from the old entrance only the lintel (Fig. 3) was visible on which a cross relief and the year of the church construction (1892) are carved (Fig. 4). Externally the southern wall is also mostly in the ground (Fig. 5). The roof is gable outwardly and internally vaulted. Two uninscribed simple khachkars have been preserved inside the church. During the Soviet era, the church was turned into a warehouse, then a cheese factory, as a result of which an additional building was built in the hall, whose half-walls have also been preserved (Fig. 6).
