Ketcharis

The complex is also called Dsaghkadzor, after the valley of the same name (valley of flowers), which lies in the central region, about sixty kilometres from Yerevan, towards Lake Sevan. It is a particularly remarkable complex for the number and variety of its buildings, for their clear differentiation in terms of size and for their unusual tightly packed arrangement, with the apses exactly aligned. To the north stands the main church dedicated to St. Gregory (1003), of the usual domed-hall type, with two-storey chapels only in the apse area. The dome has now collapsed. The large gavit is an addition of the early 13th century, with the peculiarity that it too has four chapels, superimposed in pairs, on the east side. While the two tiny churches beside St. Gregory have been destroyed (now replaced by a row of remarkable khatchkars), the 12th-century church of St. Nshan (Holy Sign or Cross) survives intact, with a pronounced horseshoe apse, thus taking up earlier solutions already common in Armenian architecture and later frequent in Islamic art. In this case, however, a direct comparison with the small monastic churches of Cappadocia does not seem out of place, in particular with rock-cut examples such as the Keletzlàr Kilise, the Karamlèk Kilise and the Elmalè Kilise, even though these are more complex structures, of the inscribed-cross type with a central dome on four supports and central small domes. The cathedral (Ghatholighè) stands at the southern end of the complex and is preceded by some remarkable khatchkars. The plan follows the domed-hall type, but the shape of the apse, with its accentuated horseshoe form, repeats the forms of St. Nashan. The dome has now collapsed.