Hovhannavank Monastery: A Medieval Armenian Masterpiece

Hovhannavank Monastery, also known as Yovhannavank, is a medieval monastery located in the village of Ohanavan in the Aragatsotn Province of Armenia. The monastery stands on the edge of the Kasagh River canyon, adjacent to the village, with the deep gorge carved by the Kasagh River. This location was not chosen by chance, as it is believed to have been the site of a pagan temple dedicated to Astghik, the Armenian goddess of water, love, and beauty. The oldest part of the monastery is the single-nave basilica of St. Karapet (John the Baptist), founded in the early 4th century by St. Gregory the Illuminator, who converted Armenia to Christianity. According to legend, Gregory the Illuminator buried relics of John the Baptist here, giving the monastery its name. The wooden roof of the early church was replaced in 554 AD, and the basilica underwent significant renovation between 1652 and 1734. The centerpiece of the monastery is the Cathedral, built between 1216 and 1221 through the donation of Prince Vache I Vachutian. The Cathedral has a cruciform floor plan, with two-story sacristies in each of the four extensions of the church. The dome has an umbrella-shaped roof, unique to Armenian churches. Carved scenes from the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins decorate the Cathedral. In 1250, Vache I's son, Kurt I Vachutian, built a narthex (gavit) next to the western wall of the Cathedral. The narthex is supported by four base pillars and features a central rotunda (added in 1274) that rests on twelve columns. Between the 12th and 17th centuries, Hovhannavank was an important educational and theological center of Eastern Armenia with a scriptorium where manuscripts were written and illuminated. About twenty manuscripts written in Hovhannavank have survived to this day and are now kept in Matenadaran. The monastery was described in detail in 1686 by the historian Zakaria Kanakertsi, who spent his entire life at Hovhannavank. In 1918, an earthquake destroyed the dome and the southern wall, which were reconstructed in the 1990s. Hovhannavank's Cathedral belongs to the category of "Gandzasar-style" ecclesiastical edifices, built around the same time in different parts of Armenia with similar compositional and decorative characteristics.