Monastery of Geghard

Monastery of Geghard
Photo by Els Slots.

The Monastery of Geghard and the Upper Azat Valley are renowned for their influence on Armenian monastic architecture.

The site contains a number of churches and tombs, most of them cut into the living rock. The monastery complex was founded in the 4th century by Gregory the Illuminator at the site of a sacred spring inside a cave. The main complex, situated within a defensive wall, dates from the 13th century and holds churches, chapels, cells for monks to live in, and princely tombs. The monastery had a school and library and was an important center of learning in the Middle Ages.

Community Perspective: An atmospheric site in a delightful deep valley. The buildings stand out for their delicate carvings. Geghard is a popular day trip from Yerevan, both with tourists and pilgrims.

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Alexander F. Somers

Belgium - 01-Jun-16 -

I was at Geghard in 1978.

When we (The lady I was with and myself) walked towards one of the cave entrances we heard the sound of a flute. While entering, the echo of sounds took us in such a way that we entered into the "room" with goose pimples on our body and tears in our eyes. An experience I'll never forget.

Note: At that time there still was a problem with exercising ones religion. This lady was playing Armenian Religious Music!


Els Slots

The Netherlands - 25-May-05 -

Monastery of Geghard by Els Slots

Geghard monastery has a great setting, amidst rocky mountains. The dark grey monastery is a popular day trip from Yerevan (often combined with the pagan-but-completely-rebuilt Garni temple), and also for school trips as I noticed. I took a guided tour here, which gets you more out of a visit (as displays in English or good guidebooks are non-existent).

Part of this monastery is hewn out of rocks (a bit similar to Lalibela). Inside, its rooms are dark, sober and cool. There are also caves left where monks prayed. Numerous khatchkars (stone crosses) are placed among the rocks.

What I liked best (besides the wonderful location) were the delicate carvings on the in-and outside of the main building. For example, the coat-of-arms relief in one of the rock churches. Also, the door in the main building is exquisite. There are a lot of Arabian influences in this work, telling another chapter of Armenia's turbulent history.


Solivagant

UK -

Monastery of Geghard by Solivagant

All 3 of Armenia’s WHS are churches or monasteries! Apart from “ticking off” additional WHS one must ask whether there is a great deal of extra benefit to be gained from chasing all 3 since the non-expert is probably not going to discern the differences in style. Indeed you will see many more than those on the WHS (and there are several more on Armenia’s “Tentative List” too!)

We did and have no regrets at doing so. The Armenian church lies at the heart of this country’s uniqueness (together it should be stated with its alphabet/language and the sense of “difference” and “oppression” which its geographical location and history of persecution and survival have given it) and seeing its monuments and the people worshipping in them is an essential part of gaining a feel for the country.

Each of the sites is in a different setting and Geghard’s is in a delightful deep valley. Dating from the 12th century the structure is half building and half cave. Its rural location was emphasised by the sellers of bread and fruit lined up outside and the slaughtered sheep hung up for skinning nearby. It was busy – but with Armenians on pilgrimage not tourists and a quiet reverence was maintained inside. The explanations of Armenian inscriptions and of saints with strange (to us) names largely passed us by but the atmosphere of peace and tranquillity stayed with us. (Visited July 2000)


Site Info

Full Name
Monastery of Geghard and the Upper Azat Valley
Unesco ID
960
Country
Armenia
Inscribed
2000
Type
Cultural
Criteria
2
Categories
Religious structure - Christian
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By ID

Site History

2000 Inscribed

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Monastery of Geghard

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AC Afshin Iranpour Alexander Barabanov Alexander Lehmann Alexandrcfif Alfons and Riki Verstraeten Ali Zingstra Andersgrau8 Ani Anna Wludarska Arseny Dimi Artur Anuszewski Ask Gudmundsen Aspasia Atila Ege BH Bamse Bazikoln Bin Bob Parda Bram de Bruin Brigitte Huber CHJLondon Carlos Caminando Christian Wagner Christoosh Christoph CugelVance Dachangjin3 Daniel C-Hazard Dkabanov Donald M Parrish Jr Donnico Drazsika Dreamcatcher Dutchnick Els Slots Erik Jelinek Ertai Eva Kisgyorgy FGKJR1492X Fan Yibo Filip Murlak Fmaiolo@yahoo.com Fmannucci Ge zhang George Evangelou GerhardM Gisella Gonca Grzegorz Andruszkiewicz Gwythyr Hadrianus Hammeel Handballrama Harald T. HaraldOest Harry Mitsidis Hfxdeb Hidalgo Hidalgo History Fangirl Howe Siang Tan Iain Jackson Ivan Rucek J Jan Korpeg Janklak Jarek Pokrzywnicki Jballard650 Jonas Kremer Jonathanliao Jos Schmitz Jose Antonio Collar Joseph C. Joshuakirbens Judit Dalla Judith Tanner JudyWalsh Juha Sjoeblom Jungliemonkey Juropa KB1 Kasia Kasienka5 Kevin McFarland Kevin247 Knut Krijn Kristin Kurt Lauer LaVale Liu tuo Ljowers Loic Pedras Longdutch Lorenzo Mejino Ludvan Lukasz Palczewski Luke LOU Luke725 Luke725 MMM Mahuhe Maki Wang Malgorzata Kopczynska MapPoint Marcel staron Marek Mariam Markassonne Martina Rúčková Marton Kemeny Marty Merveil Michael Novins Michal Kozok Michal Marciniak Mikal Ahmet Mikita M Mikko Milan Jirasek Miloš Tašković Mkborys MoPython Mysteredgar NCosta Nan NataliaS Nej153 Nihal Ege Nils Kronenberg Nmocosta79 Nomad99 Paczeterson Pandapearls Paolosan82 Pascal Cauliez Pasha Globus Patrick Matgen Patrik_globe Paul Hilder Peter Day Philipp Leu Pink Bunny Plutomu Reza Rica Duchateau Risson Rob Wilson RobRos Rodinia Roman Bruehwiler Roman Koeln Roman Raab Ronan B SHIHE HUANG Sclowitz Solivagant Sophie Stanimir Stanislaw Warwas Sun_jianyuan@me.com Super-Sophie Sutul Szucs Tamas Tamara Ratz Tarquinio_Superbo Timothy C Easton Tingmelvin Tino A Offner Tjark Tony H. Tony0001 Tourhistrio Triath Truls Brekke Usagi1974 Vanessa Buechler Vernon Prieto VforMih WHS Lux WalGra Walter Weecheng Werner Huber Westwards Willc1515 Wojciech Fedoruk Wolfgang Hlousa Wolfgang Sander WolfgangHl Wouter Yevhen Ivanovych Zoë Sheng