Geghard Monastery

At the head of the Azat valley, a monastery grows out of a cliff: Geghard, the Monastery of the Spear, where churches from the thirteenth century stand above rock-cut chambers hewn directly into the mountain, around a spring that tradition holds sacred since before Christianity. Gregory the Illuminator is said to have founded the site in the fourth century under its older name Ayrivank, the monastery of the cave; the Katoghike church was built in 1215, and the Proshyan princes carved the rock-cut churches with their family tomb and its lion-and-eagle relief in the thirteenth century.

The name refers to the Holy Lance said to have pierced Christ, long kept here and now in the treasury at Etchmiadzin, and the relic made Geghard one of medieval Armenia's great pilgrimage centers. Pilgrimage continues in living folk forms at the gate: ribbons tied in the trees, pebbles tossed at the cliff. Inside, the rock-cut chambers carry extraordinary acoustics, and a small choir sings on weekends; UNESCO inscribed the monastery and the upper Azat valley in 2000.

Visiting

The monastery is UNESCO-listed and freely visitable daily, roughly morning to dusk; dress covers shoulders and knees (scarves available), and it lies 30-40km from Yerevan, usually paired with Garni nearby.

Photo: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monasterio_de_Geghard,_Armenia,_2016-10-02,_DD_63.jpg), CC BY-SA 4.0, Diego Delso.