North Church, Byzantine church in Nizhny Arkhyz, Russia

The North Church is a cross-domed church of the inscribed-cross type, built of stone with a nine-bay structure, a three-part bema and three semicircular apses to the east, and a two-story open narthex to the west. Its drum has eight narrow windows, and the only exterior decoration is a scalloped cornice of plinth brick.

The North Church was probably built in the late 10th or early 11th century, before 1012/1013 and certainly before 1066/1067; its exact date is unknown. It likely served as the principal church of a large monastery tied to the Alanian ruler, standing on the city's outskirts beside a large necropolis. Scholars debate whether it or the Middle Church was the metropolitan cathedral; Abkhazian and local Alanian builders may have worked together.

The church's name links it to the Bolshoy Zelenchuk valley, where it stands among three cross-domed churches of the Lower Arkhyz settlement. In the open narthex, cult niches are cut into the eastern walls, and the unbaptized probably stood there during services. A large necropolis once surrounded the building.

The site sits within an archaeological preserve and requires special permission to visit. Before traveling there, contact the local museum-reserve to arrange access and get current information about visiting conditions.

The church's walls were plastered and painted, but almost no frescoes survive today; only a geometric pattern remains in the north window of the central apse. In the 1960s a human figure could still be made out between the drum's north windows, and a haloed saint's face on the upper northeast pier. In the late 19th century D. M. Strukov sketched the frescoes, though too roughly to judge their style.