Haghartsin lies in a fold of the wooded mountains of northern Armenia, a landscape of beech and oak that closes around the buildings and reveals them only at the last turn of the road. The setting is central to the site's character: unlike the monasteries of the open plateau, this one is a clearing in a forest. Within a compact enclosure stand several churches of the medieval period, their conical drums and pointed roofs built of the grey and honey-coloured stone of the region, together with the vaulted hall that served as the refectory, one of the most impressive of its kind in Armenia. Around them are gravestones and khachkars, the carved cross-stones that are a signature of Armenian art, each an intricate lacework of interlace and vegetal ornament cut in low relief. Abandoned and ruined for long periods, the complex has been extensively restored in recent years, and services are held there again. Filmed in 4K across the seasons, when snow, autumn colour and summer green transform the same walls, the programme offers a strong visual entry to Armenian monastic architecture and suits strands on sacred sites and the Caucasus.
