Goshavank (Nor Getik Monastery)

Legal scholar and fable-writer Mkhitar Gosh, one of the foremost Armenian thinkers of the Middle Ages, founded the Nor Getik Monastery in 1188. At first he built a wooden church that was consecrated as St. Gregory’s Church. Before his death, Mkhitar Gosh entrusted his mission to the priest Martiros, one of his students, who built various new buildings including a refectory and a library, and renovated the existing Nor Getik Monastery, renaming it Goshavank.

The entire architectural structure of Nor Getik Monastery consists of five churches, a gavit (vestibule/narthex), a bell tower, three chapels, and a cemetery. Each exhibits unique architectural decorations and ornaments. According to Kirakos Gandzaketsi, the construction of St. Astvatsatsin Church began in 1191 and ended in 1196.

The famous stone-crosses of Goshavank, with their exquisite needlework carving, are located on the pedestals flanking the east entrance of St. Gregory the Illuminator Church. The library bell tower is one of the most interesting edifices of Nor Getik Monastery, a rare secular architectural monument from medieval Armenia built like a two-story church.

A second architectural cluster is located on the southeastern slope of the hillside on the right bank of the Getik River, consisting of a small chapel named for St. Hripsimé (1254), the grave of Mkhitar Gosh, and master sculptor Poghos’s grave. The diversity and quality of the monuments of Goshavank are a testimony to the rich architectural legacy of Armenia’s medieval period.