Goshavank Monastery

There is an interesting legend associated with the name "Gosh". Once, God appeared to Mkhitar Gosh in a dream and told him that there would be seven prosperous and fertile years, but after that a terrible drought would follow. So God warned Mkhitar that barns should be built in the monastery and filled up with grain and wheat during prosperous years. When the drought came, Mkhitar took a large basket - "gush", filled it with grain and wheat and began giving it to people, who thus escaped from starving. That is why Mkhitar got his middle name Gosh.

Originally, the monastery was named Nor Getik, but later, after the death of Mkhitar Gosh (1213), the complex was renamed Goshavank.

The khachkars created by the carver Pavgos in Goshavank stand out among the rest. The best of them is a 1291 khachkar with the maker's name carved in the bottom left star, which is one of the most intricate examples in existence. The finely carved lacy ornaments are arranged in layers in which the basic elements of the composition — a cross on a shield-shaped rosette and eight-pointed Starr filling the corners of the middle-cross section—show clearly. The intricate openwork ornaments vary — a clear-cut geometrical pattern constitutes the background, and the accentuating elements form a complicated combination of a floral and geometrical ornament which never repeats itself.