Dadivank and Gandzasar, 23 June 2011

The road to Dadivank went through the deserted areas of the Shahumyan region along the Titu River and were very bad.

Dadivank Monastery is beatifully situated.
A restoration began in August 2004 and was completed in 2005. The works of restoration were sponsored by Armenian-American businesswoman Edele Hovnanian. During the year the restoration of the Katoghike (the main domed church of the complex) was accomplished.

Dadivank Monastery was built between the 9th and 13th century.

The monastery was founded by St. Dadi who was the disciple of Thaddeus the Apostle who spread Christianity in Eastern Armenia during the first century A.C. In June, 2007, the grave of St. Dadi was discovered under the holy altar of the main church.





We took a walk uphill from the monastery

The landscape around Dadivank Monastery

Even in the remote areas of the Shahumyan region there are signs of fighting

Gandzasar monastery is a 13th century Armenian monastery situated in the Mardakert region of Nagorno-Karabakh, near the village of Vank. "Gandzasar" means treasure mountain or hilltop treasure in Armenian.





Gandzasar was the residence of the catholicoi of the Albanian Catholicate of the Armenian Apostolic Church from about 1400 until 1816,and is now the seat of the Archbishop of Artsakh.



The Van Gogh ship is stranded like a Noah’s arch in the Karabakh mountains at Vank next to Gandzasar

We had a very nice dinner at the Van Gogh restaurant