GANDZASSAR MONASTERY

Situated on a grassy knoll overlooking the small village of Vank, from where one can admire the superb scenery of high mountains with rocky ridges covered with thick forests, it is one of the most visited places in the country and rightly so. Preceded by an original jamatoun with a pyramidal roof topped with a lantern, which is accessed by a vast portico, the church of St. John the Baptist (Sourp Hovannés Mkrtich), built between 1216 and 1238, is remarkable for its carved decoration.
The elegant building, whose facades are covered with a thin three-lobed arch, is crowned by a large dome with an umbrella roof and decorated with small columns, the intermediate spaces of which are decorated with bas-reliefs depicting medallions and the faces of saints. Completely restored and reopened for worship, the monastery is a place of pilgrimage. You will be welcomed by priests who will be delighted to take you on a guided tour of the site.

Matenadaran. Recently, the Ministry of Culture of Artsakh has installed a Matenadaran of Karabagh in the monastery's monastery buildings, which have also been completely restored. Like the Yerevan Matenadaran, but on a more modest scale, the institution aims to preserve and exhibit the manuscripts created in Artsakh, of which about a hundred are currently in the Yerevan Matenadaran. The choice of Gandzassar is justified because it was a major centre of scholarship and study in this part of medieval Armenia, whose copyists produced the most beautiful illuminated manuscripts in the region