Gegard

or Airivank (Armenian, rock-hewn monastery), a monastery founded in the fourth century in a gorge on the Garni River, 40 km southeast of Yerevan, comprising various monuments of Armenian medieval architecture. Within the monastery walls are the cruciformdomed church of Astvatsatsin (1215) with carvings and reliefs; the four-column gavit (1225); two domed churches hewn out of the cliff (one with a vestibule burial vault), both dating from 1283 and designed by the architect Galdzag; and a four-columned tomb (1288). Outside the enclosure stands the part-cave church of St. Grigori (12th century).