Get in touch with people, who have chosen another, a truly distinct lifestyle, another living, who have put themselves out of the ordinary and this is very interesting from the perspective of touching, communicating, changing, becoming richer… Have the feeling of a different way of life in Gndevank Monastery and see the true harmony.
Yerevan
8 a.m.
This is a perfect place for men to feel a different way of life… To get in touch with people, who have refused the secular life, become hermits and chosen a secluded prayer-focused life.
Drive through the pretty Ararat Valley to the 4th-century monastery Khor Virap, where you will enjoy the closest view of Mt. Ararat. The endless vineyards and apricot trees will give you an impression that you are in fact driving to the spot where everything started -” The Cradle of Civilization”. As the first Sunbeams start to spread behind the mountain, you take your steps up to Khor Virap monastery. By the way, “Khor Virap” means “deep dungeon”, where the first Armenian Catholicos Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned for 13 years before spreading Christianity in the 4th century in Armenia.
Afterwards, drive to Gndevank. It is a 10th-century Armenian monastery in the Vayots Dzor Region. As the founder of this monastery Princess Sephia said: “Vayots Dzor was a ring without a jewel but I built this monastery as the jewel for the ring”. So, Gndevank is the jewel of this region. It is in all probability an example of the more ancient edifices of its kind bequeathed by Armenian architecture. The monastery is surrounded with high walls: in the southern and western parts of the precincts are rows of domestic buildings for the use of the monks.
