Historical overview
There exist no bibliographic data and records about the church. Based on architectural-compositional solutions and the stylistics of the existing cross images, the church dates back to the 17th century.
Architectural-compositional examination
The church of Berkni is built of local rough stone and lime mortar. It used to be plastered inwardly. The structure is a single-nave, vaulted basilica with an accentuated arched altar and a pair of rectangular vestries on the eastern side, with the external dimensions of 14.50x9.10 meters (Karapetyan 2001, 196, Fig. 3). The semi-cylindrical vault rests on double-span arches adjacent to the walls and is fixed by an arch rising on the pilasters attached to the northern and southern walls (Fig. 4). The only entrance is from the southern side. The church has five windows, three of which open on the eastern wall (one on the high altar and two on the segments of vestries), one on the southern wall and one on the western wall. There are window-niches on the right and left sides of the altar. The baptismal font is located in the niche of the northern wall. Khachkars are embedded into the walls (Fig. 5). The cemetery of the settlement is located near the building. There are simple tombstones here, some of which bear cross reliefs. Remains of a small structure can be observed in the centre of the cemetery (Rkoyan 2015). One of the khachkars is dated to the 11th century (Fig. 6).
