Hayravank

If you want to experience peace and tranquility, visit the Hayravank Monastery Complex, located on the high shore of Lake Sevan. The Church of St. Stepanos (IX century) in the sanctuary is a square central-dome building and bears the best traditions of Armenian architectural thought. An octagonal, magnificently domed narthex, built in 1211, completes the complex. According to historical sources, a piece of the Cross of Christ was kept here, in connection with which Catholicos Ghazar I Jahketsi passed on a very beautiful legend. According to it, in 1381, during the invasion of Timur the Great, the country was devastated and the population was exterminated. The abbot of the monastery Ovnan turned thousands of captives into pigeons with the help of the relic of the Cross and released them. Since then, the church has been called Mardagavniats. According to some reports, the abbot healed Tamerlane’s mortally wounded son and in return asked him to give shelter to as many people as would fit in the church. As a result, thousands of people were rescued after reaching safety through a tunnel inside the monastery.
After a major renovation in the 1980s, the church with all its structures is considered one of the most important active sanctuaries of the Armenian Apostolic Church.