Tatev Monastery

Tatev Monastery, at the village of Tatev in Syunik, is a monastic complex whose first church — Surb Grigor Lusavorich, St. Gregory the Illuminator — dates to the early period of Christianity in Armenia. That church is the oldest part of the site. What stands there took its shape from a later rebuilding.

The rebuilding is dated to the middle of the 9th century, under the patronage of Philipe, prince of Syunik. The date is the interesting part. Those were the decades when Armenia was recovering the statehood it had lost in the early medieval centuries, the process that produced the Bagratuni kingdom centered at Ani. A prince of Syunik putting his name to a church at Tatev belongs squarely to that moment.

Visiting hours are not published here — call or check the site before you go.

Tatev is a village in Syunik marz (province), in the south of Armenia, roughly ~173 km east-southeast of Yerevan (straight-line). The road approach and any public transport are best checked locally before you set out.