Monastery of Geghard and the Upper Azat Valley
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How it came to be
By tradition, Geghard monastery in the gorge of the Azat River in Armenia was founded in the 4th century by Gregory the Illuminator beside a sacred spring in a cave, and it was first called Ayrivank, the Monastery of the Cave. In 923 Nasr, a governor for the Arab caliph, plundered its manuscripts and other treasures and burned its buildings.
The present main church was built in 1215 under the brothers Zakare and Ivane, generals of Queen Tamar of Georgia. The Proshian family, who bought the monastery in the mid-13th century, cut a series of chapels and family tombs into the rock, and in 1283 a chamber became Prince Prosh's own tomb.
Geghard means spear: a spear said to have wounded Christ and to have been brought by the Apostle Thaddeus was kept here for about 500 years. In the 13th century the historian Mkhitar Ayrivanetsi worked here. The monastery and the upper Azat valley were inscribed in 2000.
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