Goshavank Monastery Complex, Armenia

Goshavank Monastery Complex, Armenia 

Goshavank Monastery stands in the mountain village of Gosh, founded in 1188 by the saintly Armenian cleric Mkhitar Gosh, who was buried in a little chapel overlooking the main complex. Mkhitar Gosh established the monastery with the support of Prince Ivan Zakarian to replace the Monastery of Getik, about 20km further east, where he had previously worked but which had been destroyed in an earthquake.

Goshavank features a main church and smaller churches to St Gregory and St Gregory the Illuminator. Originally called Nor Getik, it was renamed in honour of its founder immediately after his death. The earliest part of the complex, the Mother of God Church, dates from 1191; its gavit was completed in 1197 followed by the two St Gregory chapels, the free-standing one with its particularly fine carving in 1208 and the one attached to the gavit in 1237.

The library and the adjacent school buildings were built in 1241 of large rough-hewn stones. The tower on the matenadaran was once taller than the main church. In 1291 the Holy Archangels Church with bell tower was added on top of the library, access to the church being via the external cantilevered steps. The belfry later collapsed and the building is now protected by a conical transparent dome. At its peak the library held 15,000 volumes until Mongol invaders set fire to it in 1375. It was at Nor Getik that Mkhitar Gosh first formally codified Armenian law and also wrote his fables which make moral points using birds as the protagonists.

Epic Armenia Culture & Adventure Route © Monika Newbound