Photos

Goshavank, was a monastic complex built by Garegin Gosh. Unlike most religious monuments this complex was not only a place of worship but also a place of knowledge. The building in the foreground is actually an empty library of the same era. Why empty? Well because the material that the books were made of was a great way to burn wood with to cook food for the many invading armies, first of which was Tamerlane or Timur, next came the Arabs, then the Persians, finally the Turks (I'm not even going to mention the Soviet Era). Oddly enough inside the complex the altar is designed in a very peaceful manner. Each of the altar pieces are designed in four unique architectural styles; one in traditional Armenian, one in traditional Persian, one in traditional Arabic and one in traditional European (Gothic). Wonderful place indeed.