Surb Khach Armenian Monastery

Surb Khach Monastery is a medieval Armenian monastery located in the picturesque mountains near the town of Old Crimea, in the eastern part of the Crimean Peninsula. In Armenian, the name of the monastery means “Holy Cross.”

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Video: Surb Khach Monastery

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Highlights

The monastery on a forested mountainside was founded in the mid-14th century. Its architecture is very reminiscent of the temples that were built on the territory of Armenia in the VII-VIII centuries. For several centuries the sacred relic – the stone cross of Khachkar of the IV century, which was brought to the peninsula by the inhabitants of the Armenian city of Ani destroyed by the earthquake, was kept here. Surb Khach Monastery experienced periods of prosperity and went through difficult times of ruin and oblivion.

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Since 2008, Surb Khach Monastery has been active and is owned by the Armenian Apostolic Church. The abbot, two hierodeacons and novices live in the monastery. For tourists and pilgrims, the architectural monument is open all year round and is free of charge.

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Exhibits telling about the history of the monastery are exhibited in the refectory. These are ancient tools, objects of peasant life, ancient scales, wicker chest, ceramics and a neat model of the monastery. Some of the valuables from Surb Khach Monastery are exhibited in two Feodosia museums.

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History of Surb Khach Monastery

Monk Hovhannes Sebastatsi is considered to be the founder of Surb Khach Monastery. He and his siblings bought a large plot of land of 50 hectares from the Genoese and began to build monastery buildings.

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For several centuries, the monastery served as a spiritual center for all Armenians living on the peninsula and was a pilgrimage destination for believers from the Northern Black Sea coast. By the middle of the XVIII century the borders of the diocese, the center of which was the old monastery, extended to the Balkan countries. For a long time a seminary operated in the monastery. In it students learned the art of miniature painting, icon painting, philosophy, rhetoric, geography and grammar.

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In 1778, Empress Catherine II initiated the resettlement of Crimean Armenians in Russia. The priests and part of the flock left the Crimean monastery and founded a new monastery Surb Khach on the Lower Don. However, the life of the old monastery did not stop there. It owned large tracts of Crimean land and continued to unite the Armenians living on the peninsula.

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In 1925, the local authorities liquidated the monastery, and in the buildings belonging to it placed a children’s camp, and then – tuberculosis sanatorium. During the war years, the monastery buildings were severely damaged during bombings and for a long time were not restored. The restoration of the architectural monument began in the 1980s, and in 1994 the first church service was held in the main church.

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What you can see in the monastery

The stone walls of Surb Khach Monastery are drowned in the greenery of the surrounding forests. The oldest building on the territory is the cross-domed church Surb Nshan or “Holy Sign”, built in 1358. It stands in the east of the monastery, slightly protruding beyond its fence.

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According to the Armenian tradition, a narthex or gavit, erected at the end of the XIV century, is attached to the church. Inside it you can see beautiful carved crosses and inscriptions, and on the floor – stone tombstones, under which the founder of the monastery and the priests who served here are buried.

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To the west of the main temple, behind the courtyard, stands the refectory, consisting of two halls, one of which was intended for monks and the other for laymen. In one of the halls you can see a fireplace, tables and benches, and in the other one nowadays there is a museum of Surb Khach Monastery. The second floor over this building was added in the XIX century and used as a hotel.

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The stone L-shaped building of the cell block is adjacent to the temple and the narthex. Inside the two-story building is divided into 12 cells for monks and one large room for the abbot. To the south of it is a small hotel, which was built for the many pilgrims.

On the southwest side of the monastery is a green garden with fountains decorated with decorative facades. The purest water is supplied here through a ceramic water pipe from two springs that are located on the mountain higher up the slope. The picturesque garden is laid out on four terraces and has retaining walls made of buta. According to the monastery legend, the water from one fountain gives strength and health to travelers, and from the other – intelligence and wisdom. In Surb Khach Monastery there is another Lower spring or spring of beauty. You can go down to it by narrow steps of a high stone staircase. The spring has an elegant facade of white limestone.

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The room that now houses the gift shop used to be an armory. When parishioners or pilgrims came to the monastery, they left their weapons here and entered the monastery in peace.

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How to get there

The territory of Surb Khach Monastery is located 3.5 kilometers from the small town of Old Crimea. Travelers who go to here by car, you need to turn to the monastery on the road sign. It is located at the entrance to Stary Krym, near the mosque building. Right up to the walls of the monastery is a good asphalted road, available for all types of cars.

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There is no public transportation to the monastery, so those who come to Surb Khach on their own, get on shuttle buses to the town of Old Crimea, and from there go to the monastery on foot.

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