Hovhannavank, Armenia - Հովանավանք
Channel: Travel Drone
Date: 03/10/2022

Hovannavank is an Armenian monastery complex located in the village of Ohanavan. It is located in a picturesque location at the right edge of the Kasakh River gorge.  The monastery is dedicated to John the Baptist. 

The monastery was built in the 4th-13th centuries. However, tradition attributes its foundation to Gregory the Illuminator in the 3-4 centuries. It was here that Gregory the Illuminator transferred the relics of John the Baptist to the earth. Later it served as the basis for naming the monastery Hovhannavank. Actually, only a part of the monastery was built then. The centerpiece of the monastery, the Cathedral was built later, between 1216 and 1221 through the donation of Vachutian Amberdtsi. 

The Hovhannavank Cathedral is a part of ecclesiastical structures created roughly at the same time in various regions of Armenia. These churches share a common composition and decorative style: cruciform floor plan, narthex's stalactite-adorned ceiling, the high-relief of a sizable cross, etc. 

Hovhannavank was a well-known center for Armenian literature. Some of the manuscripts created here have survived to the present day. The historian Zakaria Kanakertsi, who wrote the history of Hovhannavank, lived and worked here in the 17th century.

Song: Ikson - Spring (Vlog No Copyright Music)
Music promoted by Vlog No Copyright Music.
Video Link: https://youtu.be/xSZU2XMUAYY