Makenyats Monastic Complex

It is a monastic complex in Gegharkunik Province, one of the monuments built thanks to the Syunik architectural school. Manuscript sources about it date back to the 7th century, and it was once among the most renowned monasteries, known as a spiritual, educational and cultural center.

At the end of the 9th century, Grigor Supan, Prince of Syunik, rebuilt the ruined monastery and laid the foundations of the Church of the Holy Mother of God. He left a large inscription on the church’s eastern wall, of which only fragments survive today.

The complex consists of 37 sub-monuments, the main ones being the Holy Mother of God Church, the narthex, two barrel-vaulted churches, a single-nave church, the cemetery and the surrounding wall. The domed Holy Mother of God Church is rectangular outside and cruciform inside, with a triple-apse plan and twin side-chambers, and khachkars from the 9th–10th centuries are preserved around it.

The monastery housed the Makenyats Holy Relic, a cross containing a relic of the Tree of Life, brought from Edessa in the 11th century. In 1170, Nerses the Gracious (Shnorhali) adopted the church regulations developed at Makenyats to be implemented in other Armenian monasteries.