Tatev

This is the most famous monastic complex of the southern region, located among the mountains of Zang(h)ezur, about thirty kilometres from Gorìs. It stands on a bend of the plateau, on the edge of the deep gorge carved by the Vorotan torrent. The history of the monastery is closely linked to that of the territory: Tatev was in fact not only a religious centre but also the hub of the administrative, political, economic and above all cultural life of the region. In the second half of the 8th century the monastery became the archiepiscopal see of the whole of Syounik. At the end of the 9th century the main church, dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul, was erected, probably on an earlier 6th-century building. It is a large domed hall, with an umbrella roof outside and two free-standing piers on the east side supporting the dome; in the apse there is a kind of synthronon. Still very remarkable are the two ambos and the black basalt screen that divided the church about halfway along. This unusual arrangement of the interior is perhaps due to the special functions, including educational ones, taken on by the building. In a later period the church was plastered and partly frescoed. The bell-tower porch in front is very late (18th century) and replaces a small gavit. Built against the south side is a smaller church dedicated to St. Gregory the Illuminator, also of the 9th century, preceded by the remains of an older hall that seems to date back to the 6th or even the 5th century. To the west of St. Gregory there was a large gavit, now destroyed. In the courtyard, towards the south, bounded by the monks’ dwellings, stands a famous monumental column topped by a stone cross, known as the “swinging column” because, according to tradition, it can be made to vibrate. On the north-west side, beside the main entrance and above a second, secondary passage, is the chapel of the Virgin (1807). The complex, already damaged by an earthquake in the 12th century and then restored and continually enlarged, was severely damaged by the earthquake of 1931. Beside the monastery are some buildings used for agricultural purposes, for processing produce, such as an oil press and a mill. At the bottom of the valley, not far away, is the so-called anabad (or hermitage), also a seat of learning and a cultural centre, with various rooms and a basilican church with a small lantern-dome.