Sevan Monastery and Haghartsin Monastery

Sevan Monastery

Sevanavank (Sevan Monastery) is a monastic complex located on a peninsula at the northwestern shore   of Lake Sevan in the Gegharkunik Province  of Armenia, not far from the town of Sevan. Initially the monastery was built at the southern shore of a small island. After the artificial draining of Lake Sevan, which started in the era of Joseph Stalin, the water level fell about 20 metres, and the island transformed into a peninsula.  At the southern shore of this newly created peninsula, a guesthouse of the Armenian Writers' Union was built. The eastern shore is occupied by the Armenian president's summer residence, while the monastery's still active seminary  moved to newly constructed buildings at the northern shore of the peninsula.
Due to easier accessibility (once it became a peninsula), good highway and railway connections with the Armenian capital Yerevan, a well-developed tourist industry in the nearby town of Sevan, and its picturesque location (although less picturesque than it was before the lake level drop), Sevanavank is one of the most visited tourism sights in Armenia.
According to an inscription in one of the churches, the monastery of Sevanavank was founded in the year 874 by Princess Mariam,  the daughter of Ashot I,  (who became a king a decade later). At the time, Armenia was still struggling to free itself from Arab  rule.
The monastery was strict as it was mainly intended for those monks from Etchmiadzin who had sinned.Jean-Marie Chopin, a French explorer of the Caucasus, visited there in 1830 and wrote of a regimen restraining from meat, wine, youth or women. Another explorer visited the monastery in 1850 and wrote of how manuscripts were still being copied manually.

Haghartsin Monastery
Haghartsin is a 13th century monastery located near the town of Dilijan in the Tavush province of Armenia. It was built between the 10th and 14th century (in the 12th under Khachatur of Taron) much of it under the patronage of the Bagratuni Dinasty.
St. Astvatsatsin Church in Haghardzin (1281) is the largest building and the dominant artistic feature. The sixteen-faced dome is decorated with arches, the bases of whose columns are connected by triangular ledges and spheres, with a band around the drum’s bottom. This adds to the optical height of the dome and creates the impression that its drum is weightless. The platband of the southern portal's architrave is framed with rows of trefoils.
The sculptural group of the church’s eastern facade differs in composition from the similar bas-reliefs  of Sanahin, Haghpat an Harich. It shows two men in monks’ attire who point with their hands at a church model and a picture of a dove with half-spread wings placed between them. The umbrella roofing of the model’s dome shows the original look of the dome of Astvatsatsin church. The figures are shown wearing different dresses — the one standing right is dressed more richly than the one standing left. The faces, with their long whiskers, luxuriant combed beards and large almond shaped eyes, are also executed in different manners. These are probably the founders of the church, the Father Superior and his assistant.
The gavit of St. Astvatsatsin Church is severely damaged. The ruins show clearly where it stood; however, the walls are almost completely destroyed.
The oldest large structure of the complex, the St. Grigor Church, is accessible through its gavit.
The twelfth-century gavit abutting St. Grigor Church is of the most common type of plan. It is a square building, with roofing supported by four internal abutments, and with squat octahedral tents above the central sections, somewhat similar to the Armenian peasant home of the "glkhatun" type. The gavit has ornamented corner sections. Decorated with rosettes, these sections contain sculptures of human figures in monks' attires, carrying crosses, staffs, and birds. The framing of the central window of Haghardzin’s gavit is cross-shaped. Placed right above the portal of the main entrance, it emphasizes the central part of the facade.
One of the half-columns along the right hand wall towards the back has come forward, showing that it is hollow. According to legend, this was swung open and shut in the past and monastery riches were hidden inside at times of war and invasion.
The small St. Stepanos Church dates back to 1244.