Sanahin Monastery, located in the eponymous village near the gorge of the river Debed - is one of the major religious sites of the area. On the other side is Debed Alaverdi. The monastery covers an area of ​​about 2 hectares. It is believed that it is the place where in the IV century. Gregory the Illuminator was installed a stone cross.

The exact date of foundation of the monastery is still unknown. However, there is some information that is already in X-XI st. the number of monks in the monastery of several hundred people. Presumably, it was the Armenian clergy, which drove out the Byzantine emperor Romanus Lakapin.

The first building of the church Surb Astvatsatsin at this place was built on the orders of the Armenian king Abbas Bagratunina about the first half of the X century. A cross with four chapels of the temple built of basalt polutesanogo. The surviving fragments of plaster with some elements of the painting suggests that the church interior is decorated with murals. In the entire history of the Church it was repeatedly repaired and partly rebuilt. Thus, in 1652 it was set dome.

The largest monument is the church of Sanahin Amenaprkich, served in the X Art. Cathedral Lori kingdom. From the church Surb Astvatsatsin church Amenaprkich differs only in masonry made of smoothly hewn pieces of basalt. The main attraction of the church is considered to be a group of sculptures, presented in the form of kings Kyurike and Smbat, each holding a model of the church. In 1061 just east of the church of the Virgin built a small chapel of St. Gregory.

The original work of civil architecture of the Armenian Academy and deemed Book Depository Sanahin, built in XI century. Another monumental structure - the bell tower - is a square at the base of a three-story tower with a hexagonal rotunda, where the bells were hung. Next to the main complex is the tomb of the family Zaharidov.