Monastery · Dilijan community, Tavush
Matosavank
Մաթոսավանք · Matosavank Monastery
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.
Where it is
40.7502, 44.8037
Why go
The walk is half the reason to come. The 3.4 km loop leaves the western edge of town, climbs through groves of elm, oak and hornbeam to the two churches of Jukhtak Vank, then crosses to Matosavank, where khachkars survive inside and an information board explains how the rooms were used. Nature has taken over much of the structure and a short stretch of path can be overgrown, so it suits walkers who enjoy quiet, weathered ruins rather than anyone expecting a maintained monastery. Stone tables outside make a natural picnic stop.
Near Matosavank
Monastery
Jukhtak Vank
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.
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.
20 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ