Saint John’s Chapel in Gavar
The chapel stands beside the road linking the town of Gavar with the Artsvakar quarter, between the two residential areas. A municipal description records its unusual construction. Fallen boulders formed a narrow passage. By closing one side with a built wall, the builders created a small place of prayer within the natural rock enclosure.
Inside is a khachkar, a carved cross-stone, bearing an inscription. There is another inscription on the face of the large boulder opposite. One text was cut into a purpose-made memorial stone and the other into a natural rock already at the site. The boulders thus provide both the physical boundary of the chapel and a surface for writing.
The state inventory of Gegharkunik separately lists a cross-stone beside Saint John’s Chapel, on the right of the Gavar–Artsvakar road. It assigns that stone to the sixteenth or seventeenth century. This date refers specifically to the recorded cross-stone. The municipal description supplies neither a foundation date for the chapel nor a transcription of the lettering on the boulder.