Haghartsin Monastery

Haghartsin (Armenian: Հաղարծին, romanized: Hałarcin) is a medieval monastery located near the town of Dilijan in the Tavush Province of Armenia. It was built between the 10th and 13th centuries. It is composed of three churches: St. Gregory's (the oldest one), St. Stephen's, and St. Astvatsatsin (St. Mary's, the largest one), as well as a gavit and a refectory.

Popular etymology derives the name of Haghartsin from the words khaghats’ 'moved around, played' and artsiv 'eagle'. Haghartsin is also the name of a stream which flows past the monastery and empties into the Aghstev.

Haghartsin is thought to have been founded in the 10th century, although the exact founding date is unknown. It is assumed that kings of the Kiurikian dynasty, a branch of the Bagratuni dynasty, are buried in the partially destroyed sepulchre next to St. Gregory's Church, which contains two graves (formerly three) with partially legible inscriptions. According to another view, the Bagratuni kings Smbat II (r. 977–990) and Gagik I (r. 990–1020) are the ones buried there, although the historian Stepanos Asoghik reports that Smbat was buried in Ani. The monastery was almost entirely destroyed by the Seljuks in the 11th century, but was then renovated by the Zakarid princes Zakare and Ivane from 1184. At that time, the Monastery Church of St. Gregory (Surb Grigor) was built, and simultaneously a žamatun was added on the western side. Ivane left a dedicatory inscription following the death of his brother in 1213:

God loved my head's crown of glory — Zak‘aria — and called to Himself the one who was courageous. And I built our patrimonial Monastery of Hałarcin, a žamatun with arches and resembling a rock, adjacent to (the Church of) St. Gregory. And I donated an orchard in Erewan in memory of my brother and its servants are required to officiate a mass perpetually at the main altar for Zak‘arē...

— Dedication by Ivane.

The two brothers chose Haghartsin as their family's burial ground. The 13th-century Armenian historian Kirakos Gandzaketsi mentions that Khachatur of Taron, the renowned musician who served as the abbot of Haghartsin, attended the consecration of one of the churches of Nor Getik, which occurred in 1194. Kirakos also credits Khachatur with the reconstruction and expansion of the monastery.

St. Astvatsatsin Church in Haghartsin (1281) is the largest building and the dominant artistic feature. The sixteen-faced dome is decorated with arches, the bases of whose columns are connected by triangular ledges and spheres, with a band around the drum's bottom. This adds to the optical height of the dome and creates the impression that its drum is weightless. The platband of the southern portal's architrave is framed with rows of trefoils.

The sculptural group of the church's eastern facade differs in composition from the similar bas-reliefs of Sanahin, Haghpat, and Harich. It shows two men in monks' attire who point with their hands at a church model and a picture of a dove with half-spread wings placed between them. The umbrella roofing of the model's dome shows the original look of the dome of Astvatsatsin church. The figures are shown wearing different dresses — the one standing right is dressed more richly than the one standing left. The faces, with their long whiskers, luxuriant combed beards, and large almond-shaped eyes, are also executed in different manners. These are probably the founders of the church, the Father Superior and his assistant.