Tatev Monastery
A ninth-century monastery on a cliff above the Vorotan Gorge, reached by the Wings of Tatev, one of the world’s longest reversible cable cars.
About
Tatev rises on a rocky spur at the edge of the Vorotan gorge, with the dark stone walls of its monastery overlooking a landscape of deep valleys and forests. The main church of Saints Paul and Peter and a fortress-like wall are still intact.
The cable car, the Wings of Tatev, crosses the gorge in about twelve minutes, with spectacular views down to the river. The old road also winds down to the Devil’s Bridge, a natural stone arch with warm mineral pools.
History
The monastery grew from a smaller settlement and was consecrated in 906, when the main church of Saints Paul and Peter was completed. In the tenth and eleventh centuries it became the seat of the bishopric of Syunik, and it was a major spiritual and political centre of southern Armenia. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the Tatev University flourished here under the scholar Gregory of Tatev, teaching philosophy, theology, painting and calligraphy. The monastery withstood many attacks, and its walls and buildings were repeatedly repaired. An earthquake in 1931 damaged several structures, which were later restored. The Wings of Tatev cable car opened in 2010 and was recognised by Guinness as the longest non-stop double track cable car in the world, about 5.7 km long, which made it much easier to reach the monastery from the village of Halidzor.