Our last stop today was a quite depressive half-abandoned village of Harich. There is located still-functioning Harichavank Monastery. It has a chapel built in the 7th or 8th century. Later it was dramatically expanded with a gavit (antechamber) and domes in the 13th century. There is some beautiful geometric stonework over the main church door and around the dome of the gavit. We asked locals to point out the anteroom/storeroom with a hole in the ceiling leading to a secret upstairs room. During the invasion, the room was used to house women, children, and sometimes even important local officials. A stone would be fitted exactly into the ceiling hole once everyone had climbed to safety. During our walk through the village, friendly locals invited us to their homes for food and chat.
Parking location – Harichavank: 40.607671N 43.999400E (🚻)