Goshavank Monastery and Medieval Armenian Law
Visit the 12th-century Goshavank monastery, named after the great medieval jurist Mkhitar Gosh who lived and wrote here, discovering the intersection of religious architecture, legal scholarship, and artistic achievement in medieval Armenia.
- 1
Gosh Village
Arrive in the small village of Gosh that surrounds the monastery, named in honor of the 12th-century polymath Mkhitar Gosh who codified Armenian law in a code that remained authoritative for centuries.
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Main Cathedral
Enter the Cathedral of the Virgin built by Mkhitar Gosh himself in the 12th century, its elegant proportions and refined stone carving reflecting the high intellectual and artistic culture of the monastery scriptorium.
- 3
Mkhitar Gosh Memorial
Pay respects at the tomb of Mkhitar Gosh, the scholar whose Datastanagirk Code of Laws represented the first systematic codification of Armenian civil and canon law, a document studied in Armenian legal history to the present day.
- 4
Scriptorium Site
Visit the site of the monastery's scriptorium where illuminated manuscripts were produced by generations of monks, the monastery having been one of medieval Armenia's most important centers of manuscript production and literary scholarship.
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Unique Khachkar
Find the famous khachkar at Goshavank considered one of the finest in Armenia, its lace-like stone carving of extraordinary delicacy representing the absolute peak of the art form perfected by Armenian medieval stone carvers.
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Monastery Garden
Rest in the monastery garden where ancient trees shade a space that has been cultivated for centuries, the peaceful enclosure giving a sense of the contemplative life that supported the scholarship and art produced within these walls.