HAGHPAT MONASTERY AND BERD KAYAN FORT

Situated on a plateau overlooking the wooded Debet Canyon, 1,000 m above sea level, from which there is a panoramic view of the area, the monastery of Haghpat has not usurped its reputation and is one of the main points of interest in the region. With an architecture quite similar to that of Sanahin, the monastery has known more or less the same history, lulled by the melodies and ballads of the famous Armenian musician, troubadour and poet Sayat Nova, who stayed there from 1775 to 1779, under the name of Father Stepanos, after having enchanted the princely courts of the region, in almost all the languages spoken in the Caucasus. Overlooking the village cottages, the numerous buildings of the monastery are compactly assembled behind a long, thick wall punctuated by rounded towers and to which is attached a vast refectory, similar to that of Haghartsin. Other buildings, including a hermitage and a fountain, rise outside the walls of this large monastic complex of feudal Armenia, which had important estates in the valley. Like Sanahin, this monastery was founded by Queen Khosrovanouch in 976; like Sanahin, it was owned by the Kiurikian princes in the 10th-12th centuries, until the Zakarid princes gave it a new lease of life in the 13th century.

The monastery of Haghpat is organized around the main church of Saint Sign (Sourp Nchan), completed in 991 by the Bagratide king of Armenia Smbat, and his brother Gurguen or Kiuriké, king of Tashir ; they are represented - the first crowned with the large turban conferred by the Caliphate, the second wearing a sort of toque, carrying in their hands the model of this church built by the architect Trdat d'Ani - on a plaque carved into the pediment of this imposing edifice, a little massive, but of elegant proportions. The interior walls of the church were entirely covered with frescoes, of which important fragments have survived, in the apse and especially in the hemicycle, where the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Presentation to the Temple, the Baptism, and the Communion of the Apostles or Pentecost are depicted on the north wall. The Georgian inscriptions that accompany the Armenian-language commentaries on these frescoes betray the influence of Georgia.

Jamatoun. The Church of St. Sign is preceded by a jamatoun built in 1185 and which served as a mausoleum of the Kiurikian princes. The interior space is supported by a pair of crossed arches, which appears here for the first time in Armenia. The most spectacular view of the monastery complex, with its symphony of domes and rotundas standing out against the wooded mountains, is from the Jamatoun square, which opens onto a large semicircular porch.

The ensemble composed of the very small chapel Sainte-Mère-de-Dieu (Sourp Asdvadzadzine, 13th century), to the left of the previous jamatoun and situated in front of another narthex, known as the "jamatoun of Hamazasp" (1257), and, at the other end, the bell-tower-campanile, is truly impressive.

The bell tower, built in 1245, deserves a tour of the complex to observe its details: it is a two-storey polygonal tower, with corners broken by stalactites or filled in by trunks, and topped by a rotunda whose colonnade is topped by a pyramidal roof.

High crosses are carved on the walls with pointed windows and geminated bays, which designate this curious building as the product of a synthesis between East and West.

In front of the bell tower, the library, built in 1262, a large square room whose walls, supported by a pair of solid cross arches, are pierced with niches for books, bears witness to the intellectual activity that took place there. Artistic and musical activity too, for the history of the monastery of Haghpat, like that of Sanahin, is steeped in the melodies of the 18th-century Armenian trouvar Sayat-Nova. Probably originating from the village of Sanahin, the poet ended his days in the monastery of Haghbat, where he had been sent to relegation, his star having faded in the principalities of the region. The monastery of Haghpat contains many khatchkar, including the khatchkar of Amenaparkitch (Saviour of All), dating from 1273, erected in front of the Church of St. Sign. Adjacent to the surrounding wall is the Ukanides' mausoleum, which contains three vaults serving as the base for a row of 13th-century khatchkars.

The hermitage of the Mother of the Lord (Tiramayr), or of the Women, is located a little away from the surrounding walls of the monastery, on a hillock to the east of the village with houses with sloping roofs, whose gables are covered with timber-framed walls, typical of the region. It is a small 13th-century chapel with an elegant three-lobed arched dome, and the medieval fountain, built in 1258, continues to supply the village, as in Sanahin; it is a little larger, and its broad gabled roof surmounts three arcades supported by two massive columns.

Kayan-Berd Fort. It is accessible at the end of a hike between Haghpat and Sanahin. The ruined walls of this fortress enclose the chapel of the Holy Mother of God of Dsevank, from which there is a superb view of the canyon. It can be reached from a path halfway along the road between Alaverdi-Sanahin and Haghpat, indicated by a refreshment bar, about 2 hours walk