Type: Monastic complex
Location: Region of Lori on the basin of the Dzoraget river
Date: Xth-XIIIth c
Evidence for date:
Important details: Associated with nearby Haghpat Monastery
State of preservation: Very good
Reconstruction: Some
Summary: Located in the region of Lori this monastic complex stands on the edge of the basin of the Dzoraget River, southwest of Haghpat manastery. Sanahin monastery was probably erected on the site of a pre-Christian temple. It comprises three churches, two gavits, an academy, a library, and a bell tower, the whole encircled by a fortified wall. It was established as a monastery in 966.

In the center stands the church of them Mother of God begun on 930. It is of the domed hall type with four corner rooms. The drum and cupola are of later date (XVIIIth century). The original squinches are unusual because of their shape and of the four sculptured animals whose symbolism is doubtful (it is interesting to compare them with similar motifs at Gndevant). The small model of the church placed under the entrance arch of one of the sacristies is very unusual.

Next to this church of relatively modest proportions, Queen Khosrovanuysh with the help of her husband King Ashot III Bagratuni began in 966 the construction of the Church of the Savior which she dedicated to her sons Smbat and Gurgen who are shown on a bas relief of the tympanum on the east façade. This church has the same general lines as the preceding ones but is considerably larger in size. Two-stories sacristies are set in the four corners. The cupola was completely rebuilt in 1184. The elegant series of blind arcades on the east and south facades are among the earliest examples of this type of decoration, which is also found on the cathedral of Ani.
The chapel of St. Gregory with a quadrilobed plan inscribed in a circle was rebuilt in 1061. It is a small-circular-shaped chapel on the east end of the monastery grouping. It has a circular dome on the middle rests on the wedgelike projection at the meeting points of the niches. The library, which is one of the most interesting buildings, was erected in 1063. It has a square plan and a roof supported by diagonal arches which rest on four half columns placed in the middle of the sides of the square.

The building, which links the two churches, is of the same period. It served as an academy, a real university where famous masters such as Gregory Magistros taught. The building activity slowed down in the XIth century as a result of the Seljuq invasions, but it resumed at the end of the XIIth century with the construction of the gavit placed in front of the church of the Savior which is the work of the abbot John.

The four monolithic columns, which support the roof, are noteworthy. The second large gavit placed in front of the church of the Virgin and having a triple barrel vault carried on a double row of pillars was built in 1211. The west facades pierced by an arcade under which are placed two very previous Khach'k'ars dating from 1187 and 1215. The three-stored campanile standing to the left of the gavit dates from the XVIIIth century.

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Konstaniants 1886
Haroutiounian 1888
Ališan 1890, 193
Harutyunean 1898, monograph
Yerznkiants vol.3 1898
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