Dadivank (Armenian Դադիվանք) or Khutavank (Armenian Խութավանք, lit. “monastery on a hill”) is an Armenian apostolic monastery in the Martakert region of the Republic of Artsakh. It was built between the 9th and 13th centuries and is one of the main monastic complexes of medieval Armenia.

The monastery is said to have been founded by St. Dadi, a disciple of Thaddeus the Apostle who spread Christianity in Eastern Armenia during the first century AD. However, the monastery is only first mentioned in the 9th century. In July 2007, the grave said to belong to St. Dadi was discovered under the holy altar of the main church.  The princes of Upper Khachen are also buried at Dadivank, under the church’s gavit (narthex).

The monastery belongs to the Diocese of Artsakh of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and consists of the cathedral church of the Holy Mother of God, the chapel, a kitchen and refectory, and a few other buildings.  The main church has Armenian script engraved into its walls, in addition to several 13th-century frescoes. The bas-relief on the south facade of the cathedral at Dadivank, built in 1214, shows the princess offering the church in memory of her sons. According to Paolo Cuneo, Dadivank is one of two monasteries along with Gandzasar where bust motifs (possibly the donors of the monasteries) are encountered. British art historian Anthony Eastmond places Dadivank’s construction within a wider context of examples of female patronage of ecclesiastical buildings in the thirteenth-century Near Eastern world.

After the Nagorno-Karabakh war of 2020, which resulted in a ceasefire agreement providing for the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the Kelbajar region and its surrender to Azerbaijan, the monastery was included in the territory that came under the control of Azerbaijan. The abbot of the Dadivank monastery decided to move the important relics of the monastery, including bells, crosses and khachkars, to Armenia to protect them from being destroyed by the Azerbaijani government.

After the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the region, the monastery was taken under the protection of the Russian peacekeeping forces]. At the end of December, additional Armenian clergy arrived at the monastery, and under the protection of Russian peacekeepers, the first wedding ceremony after the war was performed.

Photo  religions.am