Saghmosavank

It stands further upstream than the preceding monastery of Hovhannavank, likewise on the edge of the deep gorge of the river Kasakh. The complex, in its present form (which dates from the 13th century), is believed to have been built by the same architect as Hovhannavank. It is a compact and lively grouping of volumes, formed by the main church of St. Sion (1215), of the domed-hall type, with the fourfold series of small two-storey chapels beside the central space, preceded by a large gavit, and by the smaller church-library dedicated to the Virgin (1255). This latter space is resolved with a daring asymmetrical structure of intersecting arches, with a vault of polychrome inlay. Light falls almost exclusively from the central lantern.