Saghmosavank rises at the edge of the Kasagh canyon in the province of Aragatsotn, a short distance from Hovhannavank, with which it forms a natural pair. The name is usually translated as the monastery of psalms, and the site's reputation rests as much on its scholarly function as on its architecture. The buildings are grouped tightly together, in dark grey and reddish stone: the church with its conical drum, the vaulted gavit that precedes it, a small chapel, and an annexe built to house books, the manuscript depository that gave the monastery its intellectual weight. Interiors are sober, with sparing decoration concentrated on doorways, capitals and the carved cross-stones set into the walls. The position is decisive. From the terrace, the canyon drops away abruptly and the plateau runs to the snow line of Mount Aragats, so that the monastery reads as a threshold between cultivated land and void. Filmed in 4K, with aerial sequences along the gorge and interior work in low natural light, the programme suits strands on sacred sites, medieval architecture and the intellectual history of the Christian East.
