Monastery · Tsaghkadzor, Tsaghkadzor, Kotayk
Kecharis Monastery
Կեչառիսի վանական համալիր
Basalt churches built between the 11th and 13th centuries stand side by side in this monastery in the resort town of Tsaghkadzor, beside a four-column gavit whose south facade carries a sundial.
Where it is
40.5339, 44.7163
Why go
Several building campaigns are visible together at Kecharis. The main church of Saint Grigor dates from the early 11th century; the larger Katoghike was added in the first quarter of the 13th century on the orders of Prince Vasak Khaghbakyan, and the small domed Saint Harutyun church followed in 1220. Carved khachkars and tombs are spread across the grounds. The complex fits easily into a stay in Tsaghkadzor, and the Orbeli Brothers House-Museum in the same town makes a sensible second stop for anyone with more time.
Near Kecharis Monastery
Museum
Orbeli Brothers House-Museum
Levon Orbeli's birthplace in Tsaghkadzor, turned into a house-museum in 1972 for him and his brothers Ruben and Hovsep, three scientists of the Soviet era who were born in the town.
0 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.
10 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Fortress
Bjni Fortress
Medieval fortress ruins on a promontory above the right bank of the Hrazdan River in Bjni, a Kotayk village also known for its bottled mineral water, turned into a stronghold by the Pahlavuni princes in the 10th century.
10 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Sevanavank
Two small cross-plan churches, Surb Arakelots and Surb Astvatsatsin, on a peninsula at Lake Sevan's north-western shore that was an island until Soviet-era draining lowered the lake by about 20 metres.
25 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ