The Northern entrance to the monastery and the Tatev historical Spring

The northern entrance to the monastery and the area adjacent to the Spring are closely interconnected. They are located in the northeastern part of the Tatev Monastery. A new entrance in the northern fortress wall of the Tatev Monastery was opened in 1875. It was opened by Bishop Stepanos, the abbot of the monastery. In the same year, he brought water from the Tatev Spring to the monastery courtyard and built a Spring in front of the large entrance. Bishop Artak Smbatyants and Mesrop Magistrate Archbishop Ter Movsisyan testify this in their writings. The northern entrance is the entrance to the northern side of the monastery complex and is directed towards the church of St. Poghos-Petros.

The northern entrance, the Spring and the adjacent building survived until the 1931 earthquake. According to an archival photograph, the earthquake did not cause damage to the North Entrance. Additionally, the same photograph indicates that the building adjacent to the Spring was almost destroyed.

It should be noted that, in contrast to the many buildings of the Tatev Monastery Complex, the Northern Entrance and the Spring, until 1980, the adjacent territory has not been fully measured, studied nor given due attention.

A detailed study of the 1980 project depicts that historical and bibliographic sources and archival photographs have not been fully studied, and excavation materials have not been used. As a result, in the course of this project the following took place:
- The opening of the North Entrance was unjustifiably blocked with stone. The stone of the 1875 Spring, built by Bishop Stepanos and destroyed in 1931, was embedded in it, thereby unreasonably presenting the northern entrance as the historical spring.
- The extensive staircase leading from the Northern entrance to the courtyard of the monastery was dismantled. Instead, a retaining wall was built 1.6 m from the north entrance.
The platform was leveled and a new staircase was built to descend from the newly created plane on the eastern side of the platform, parallel to the fortress wall, which violated the harmony of the northern entrance, the courtyard and St. Pogos-Petros Church.

In this case, it became necessary to develop a new project for the reconstruction of the historical Spring and the North Entrance of the Tatev Monastery based on reliable historical and archaeological materials. In the historical Spring and Northern entrance project, realized from 2015–2016, based on archive materials and photographs, detailed historical and architectural studies and analysis were conducted. As a result, the northern entrance to the monastery was re-opened and the Spring was rebuilt in its place. During the restoration work, excavations were carried out, and part of the historical water supply system leading to the Spring (part of the pipeline and Karas) was opened, which were mothballed in place, in the inner part of the north entrance corridor, under a glass cover.