UNESCO World Heritage Sites inscription details
Visited in August 2013
Haghpat is inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list together with another nearby monastery – Sanahin. We only had time to do one on our last day in Armenia, as we were on a strict timeline. It was our 6th monastery complex of a 3 day tour and we were still enchanted and amazed. Haghpat and Sanahin are located in northern Armenia, not far from the border with Georgia and is a great day trip option from Georgia into Armenia, if you don’t have time to spend in both countries and want to sample Armenian architecture.
The long drive to Haghpat from the capital takes you through the beautiful mountainous terrain of northern Armenia. In other parts of the country, most monasteries like Noravank or Geghard are isolated. Haghpat stands in the middle of a village of the same name and there are many other small communities nearby. However, there don’t seem to be a lot of accommodation options close to the monastery. If you don’t want to make the long trip from Yerevan or back, one idea is to stay at the spa town of Dilijan , which is two hours away. There are also (limited) hotel options in the nearby towns of Alaverdi and Sanahin.
The monastery was presumably founded in the 10th century, although there is evidence of a church dating back to the 4th century around the time Christianity was adopted as the country’s religion. There are several legends on how it was built. According to one, it was started by a student of nearby Sanahin’s master builder, after an argument. Once the master saw the monastery wall going up he went down to look at what his student was building. Once he saw it was a church, he kicked at the wall to test it, and exclaimed “good wall!”, which sounds like Haghpat in Armenian. In another version of the same legend, the building of Haghpat was started by the son of Sanahin’s architect after a family rift and the quality of the new church’s construction was enough to get father and son back on speaking terms.
Over the centuries the monastery grew to include as many as 20 different buildings including libraries, refectories, belfries and and other structures. Many of these, like the beautiful belfry are still standing.
By the 13th century Haghpat became, not only a spiritual center of Armenia, but also a center of learning, where manuscripts were copied and restored. It survived invasions by the Mongols, the Timurids, several earthquakes and decades of neglect under Soviet rule. Although the frescoes on the inside walls did not survive the Soviet era, with some imagination you can almost see what this place was like in its heyday. Yet for all the majestic beauty of the place we were the only tourists on site!
