Monastery · Dilijan community, Tavush
Jukhtak Vank
Ջուխտակ վանք · Jukhtakavank · Jukhtak Monastery · Gisheravank
Named for its pair of churches (jukht means pair in Armenian), this monastery stands in a forest clearing in Dilijan National Park on the outskirts of Dilijan.
Where it is
40.7577, 44.8030
Why go
The larger church, Surb Grigor, is dated by its style to the 11th or 12th century; its dome collapsed long ago, leaving the interior open to the sky, and its walls have been reinforced. The smaller Surb Astvatsatsin carries an inscription recording its completion in 1201 by Hayrapet, abbot of the monastery of Surb Petros. Both churches were restored in the 1970s. The site is best reached on foot, and a waymarked path crosses the valley to Matosavank on the opposite slope; HIKEArmenia's Medieval Monasteries Trail links the two. It suits anyone spending a day in Dilijan who is happy to walk to a site rather than drive to it.
Near Jukhtak Vank
Monastery
Matosavank
A small monastery completed in 1247 in the forest just west of Dilijan, partly reclaimed by vegetation and reached on foot along the Medieval Monasteries Trail together with Jukhtak Vank.
1 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Haghartsin Monastery
A monastery of local limestone in the forests of Dilijan National Park, with three churches raised between the tenth and thirteenth centuries and an architecturally rare thirteenth-century refectory.
9 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Goshavank
A monastery in the village of Gosh, east of Dilijan, rebuilt under the scholar and lawgiver Mkhitar Gosh and famous for a thirteenth-century khachkar carved by the master Poghos.
17 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Church
St Thaddeus Church, Ddmashen
Ddmashen's 7th-century church of St Thaddeus the Apostle, a large cruciform church on a rectangular plan whose dome now rests on a sixteen-sided drum rebuilt in 1907 after earthquake damage.
21 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ