Kayen

Kayen occupies a ridge above the Debed River between the monasteries of Haghpat and Sanahin. Its fortress, known as Kayan Berd, enclosed a triangular space with defensive towers and a church built of dark tuff. According to the medieval historian Kirakos Gandzaketsi, Archbishop Hovhannes of Haghpat built the fortified monastery in 1233 on land belonging to Sanahin, provoking a dispute between the two communities. Its walls were destroyed in 1241, later restored, and ruined again by Timur's troops at the end of the fourteenth century. The church's dome was damaged by an earthquake in 1827.