Monastery · Sanahin, Alaverdi community, Lori
Sanahin Monastery
Սանահինի վանք · Sanahin
Sanahin's 10th-century monastery in Lori's Alaverdi community, where a library building of 1063 and an academy hall stand among churches, gavits and khachkars.
Where it is
41.0872, 44.6661
Why go
Learning shaped this monastery. UNESCO singles out Sanahin's school of illuminators and calligraphers, and the buildings reflect that role: a free-standing library, an academy between the churches of Astvatsatsin and Amenaprkich, and gavits added in 1181 and 1211. The church of Astvatsatsin dates from the mid-10th century, when Sanahin served as the administrative centre and burial place of the Kiurikian Bagratids, and more than 50 khachkars survive. A late-12th-century bridge crosses the Debed below the plateau. Visit it with Haghpat, which is in view across the ravine and shares the World Heritage listing.
Near Sanahin Monastery
Fortress
Kayan Fortress
Ruined walls and towers on a hill at the edge of the Debed gorge between the monasteries of Haghpat and Sanahin, rebuilt in 1233 by Bishop Hovhannes of Haghpat.
3 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Haghpat Monastery
A 10th-century monastery founded by Queen Khosrovanush on a promontory above the Debed River in Lori, grouped around the Cathedral of Surb Nshan.
4 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Church
Odzun Church
A domed basilica in the Lori village of Odzun, first built in the 6th century, with a separate early medieval memorial beside it where tall carved stelae stand in arched openings on a stepped plinth.
6 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Kobayr Monastery
A partly ruined monastery on a forested cliffside of the Debed canyon near Tumanyan, reached only on foot, where fragments of medieval frescoes survive in the main church.
9 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ