Sanahin

Sanahin was founded in the tenth century and became one of the leading centres of learning in medieval Armenia. Its academy, run under Gregory Magistros in the eleventh century, taught theology, medicine and rhetoric, and the vaulted gallery where classes were held still stands.

The complex is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list together with Haghpat, ten kilometres away. Local tradition reads the name as this one is older than that one — a claim to seniority over its neighbour that the two communities argued about for centuries.

Below the monastery, a bridge built in 1195 still crosses the Debed, its parapets carved with wildcats. The village is also the birthplace of the Mikoyan brothers — one a Soviet politician, the other co-designer of the MiG fighter — and a small museum with a MiG-21 outside marks the house.