Khamshi Monastery and Lake Sevan

• peaksam October 13, 2024October 20, 2026

On October 13, 2024, we discovered for ourselves Nor Eghtsi, or Khamshi Monastery. It is located in the Gegharkunik region. For many people, the Gegharkunik region isn’t associated with forested areas, but come and see: there are beautiful forests in this region too. The road leading to Khamshi Monastery passes through a forest, which these days is painted in beautiful autumn colors. With the rustle of leaves underfoot, breathing in the scent of the forest, and with the many colors of autumn in our eyes, we reached the monastery.

Khamshi Monastery was one of the most important monastic complexes of the Mijin Varazhnunik district of Utik province in medieval Armenia. The monastery was founded in the 9th–10th centuries and existed until the middle of the 13th century. In the 12th–13th centuries, Khamshi Monastery was the seat of the Catholicoi of Aghvank. According to the notable 13th-century historian Kirakos Gandzaketsi, Khamshi Monastery was destroyed for the first time in 1231, during the devastating campaigns of the Khwarezmian ruler Jalal ad-Din. Seeing that it was impossible to restore the monastery, the Catholicoi of the Aghvank see moved to Artsakh and began building Gandzasar Monastery, modeled on the St. Gregory the Illuminator church of Khamshi Monastery. Khamshi Monastery is no longer mentioned in the sources, and the monastery has remained in ruins to this day. When you try to picture the walls of the windows located in the ruined area, the half-preserved columns decorated with carvings, the dozens of khachkars (cross-stones) and the hundreds of fragments, you realize what a valuable building you are standing among, and you feel great regret. After walking around the monastery and exploring its parts, we played games in a pleasant spot in the forest, relaxed and reached Lake Sevan. For the campfire we had gathered firewood in the forest beforehand, so that we could light the fire on the shore of Sevan. Until we lit the fire, a few brave ones went into the water. Sevan was crystal clear, and in the distance the charming cone-shaped peaks of the volcanic Geghama Mountains could be seen. Part of the group got carried away lighting the fire on the shore, others throwing stones into the lake and gathering stones, while one group simply enjoyed the calm splash of the lake.