Stone lace
Carved 1291.
Soghomon Matevosyan — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Soghomon Matevosyan — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Maga Sargsyan — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Soghomon Matevosyan — CC BY-SA 4.0
A twelfth- and thirteenth-century monastery in the quiet village of Gosh among green hills east of Dilijan, founded by the Armenian scholar and lawgiver Mkhitar Gosh, who wrote one of Armenia's first law codes, so that the monastery and the village bear his name. In its day the monastery was a major centre of learning and teaching; today it has several churches, an old vaulted stone library, a broad entrance hall, and its founder's tomb in a small chapel on the hill opposite. The monastery's most famous treasure is a carved cross-stone made by the sculptor Poghos in 1291, called the stone lace for the fineness of its interlaced carving, which looks as if embroidered, and counted among the finest works of the art. Entry is free, and the village is small and quiet with a few cafés. Hikers reach the monastery on a forest mountain trail from Lake Parz in about three to four hours.
Carved 1291.
Vaulted roof.
From Lake Parz.
Gosh village, about 20 km east of Dilijan
A cross-stone carved by the sculptor Poghos in 1291, famous for its fine interlaced carving.