UNDER CONSTRUCTION

   At  Goght,  a  road  branches  left  to the village of Geghard, but the straight road ends in the parking lot of Geghardavank, “Monastery of the  Spear,” otherwise known as Ayriva vank.  A spearhead-shaped metal object, now in the Ejmiatsin  treasury,

but once housed at Geghard, gave the monastery its name, as the lance with which Christ was wounded in the side. Nestled at the end of a rugged gorge, Geghard was clearly a sacred spot even in antiquity, with a seep of water coming out of the rock.  Though there are inscriptions dating to the 1160s, the main church was built in 1215 under the auspices of the brothers Zakare and Ivane, the generals of Queen Tamar of Georgia, who took back most of Armenia from the Turks. All around the monastery are caves and khachkars.