Saint Gregory’s Church in Karmirgyugh
People in Karmirgyugh also know this church as Khonarhuk Zham or Khacher, meaning Crosses. The monument inventory of Gavar municipality dates it to the fifteenth century. The local names preserve the memory of a village sanctuary known as much for the stones in its enclosure as for the church itself.
The church is a single-nave basilica. Its long undivided hall ends in a sanctuary on the east. The entrance is placed in the southern wall, so a person entering reaches the long axis of the hall from the side. Church and memorial stones share a courtyard. The former cemetery was more extensive than the small area that remains visible today.
On a stone southeast of the church, the carver depicted an eagle with its wings extended and a lamb in its talons. Much of the funerary sculpture in the enclosure has been linked to the family of Melik Pirhamza of Gegharkunik. The earliest date recorded on these monuments is 1502. It dates a memorial within the churchyard and provides evidence for burials there, distinct from the architectural dating of the church.