Akhpat

a medieval Armenian monastery complex dating from the tenth to the 13th century at the village of Akhpat in the Alaverdi Raion of the Armenian SSR. It is enclosed by fortress walls. Akhpat’s preserved structures include the main church of Nshan (967–991), with sculptured representations of church elders on the exterior and paintings (13—14th centuries) inside; the Church of Gregory (1005; rebuilt in 1211) and the small domed church of Astvatsatsin (12—13th centuries); a large gavit (church entrance—rebuilt in 1209), covered with a system of intersecting arches; Amazaspa (1257), the largest of the four-columned gavits; a refectory (13th century) with an original vaulted roof; a library (c. 1275); a multistory bell tower (1245); and khach-kars (stone crosses).