Holy Mother of God Church, Armenian church in Vanadzor, Armenia.

The Holy Mother of God Church in Vanadzor is an Armenian house of worship built from orange and black tufa stones that create a distinctive visual pattern on its exterior. The structure showcases how these contrasting stones are arranged across the walls to form its characteristic appearance.

The church was founded in 1831 by the hundredman Piroman Yuzbash Tayirov, an Erzurum-born officer of the Russian Empire respected in Karakilisa. He reused stones from an older church on the site, which had been ruined by the 1826 earthquake. Its construction years coincide with the reign of Catholicos Hovhannes Karbetsi, who likely consecrated it.

The name Karakilisa, used for the town around the church, was explained by a local legend: a Turkish pasha, seeing his troops slaughtered in the church by Armenian youths, cried "Kara kilisa" — black church. The churchyard holds the graves of benefactor families such as the Abovians, Gharagyozians and Ghambarians, and of priests including Khoren Khanzadyan.

The church stands in central Vanadzor, in the Lori region, and is reached on foot from the city centre. Its courtyard holds the graves of benefactor families such as the Abovians and Gharagyozians, and the "Surb Nahatakats" garden with the 1915 memorial stone. The floor slabs were laid by masters from Gyumri in 1912.

The church's name, Karakilisa, originally meant "church built of black stones," referring to its dark dome and bell tower. Local legend says a Turkish pasha, seeing his garrison slaughtered there by Armenian youths, cried out "Kara kilisa — black church, you have blackened my army."