Goshavank monastery of the Diljan Park

We leave the Haghartsin monastery and drive back to the main road where we drive a bit further to the north to reach the second big monastery of the Diljan National Park. We arrive at the Goshavank monastery which is a pretty big monastery on the top of a small hill.

The monastery complex was built in the 12^th and 13^th century on top of the ruins of an older monastery which was destroyed in an earthquake in 1188.

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The complex is quite nice to visit and there is only a few other visitors so we can actually enjoy the location in relative privacy – this is very nice after having been to Georgia where it seemed like there was a Chinese bus tour at every major church around the country.

We wonder around the different buildings at the complex and enjoy the different churches – there is no less than four churches clustered together at the complex. The individual church is fairly small but combined there is something to explore for a little time.

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After we have left I realized the place is particularly famous for the khachkars or carved stone crosses – I didn’t realize this when we went to the place so I didn’t take that many pictures of the crosses and might have missed out on the most famous of the stone crosses. But I did take a few pictures of some of the crosses and there was several standing in front of some of the buildings.

We don’t spend too much time at the complex – it is nice and has a fair size but it is still manageable to go and explore it. So after about 15 minutes we drive away and go back to the main highway to actually head to Lake Sevan.