Spitakavor Monastery
Remote white-stone monastery in alpine meadows
- Area Vayots Dzor
- Type Monastery
- Time needed 1h
Spitakavor is a small monastery of pale stone set in high meadows above Vernashen in Vayots Dzor, reached by a rough track up the hillside. The carving on the church and the remoteness of the setting are the reasons people make the effort.
Open in the planner →Getting there
It is roughly 115 km and about 2h 06m from Yerevan on the app's estimate, plus a slow climb of several kilometres beyond the village. The track needs a high-clearance vehicle, or a walk of a couple of hours.
What you see
The church, gavit and a bell tower stand within a low enclosure, with relief carving around the doors and windows including donor figures. The stone is noticeably light, which is where the name comes from. Around the complex are khachkars, a grave of the nationalist leader Garegin Nzhdeh and open pasture with ridges beyond.
What to pair it with
Vernashen and the Gladzor museum are at the foot of the track, and Noravank and Areni are back on the main road.
When to go
Summer and early autumn, once the track has dried out. Snow closes the route for much of the winter and spring mud makes it worse than dry rubble.
What is hard about it
The access track is the hardest part of this entry: steep, stony and unsuitable for a normal hire car, with no mobile coverage for much of it. Allowing an hour for the site plus the drive or walk, it consumes most of a half day.
Common questions
Can I get there in a hire car?
Usually not. The track beyond Vernashen is rough enough that most people arrange a local driver with a high-clearance vehicle.
How long is the walk up?
Around two hours up from the village and rather less down, on a track rather than a path.
Whose grave is at the monastery?
Garegin Nzhdeh, a figure in the early 20th-century Armenian national movement, was reburied at Spitakavor, and the grave draws Armenian visitors.
Nearby
- Noravank13th-century monastery in a red cliff canyon
- Areni-1 CaveCave where the world's oldest leather shoe and winery were found
- Areni ChurchMomik's 14th-century church above the wine village
- SmbataberdRidge-top fortress high above the Yeghegis valley
- Tsakhats Kar MonasteryHillside monastery near Smbataberd
- JermukSpa town known for its mineral water, gorge and waterfall
More of the same kind
- Geghard MonasteryPartly carved into the rock face, a UNESCO World Heritage site
- Havuts TarRuined monastery reached by a hike across the Azat gorge
- Kecharis Monastery11th-century complex in the ski town of Tsaghkadzor
- Aghjots MonasteryMonastery tucked into the Khosrov forest edge