The Monastery Of Psalms
An inscription on the doorway of the Holy Zion Church tells how Vache Vachutian and his wife, Mamakhutan, ordered the church's construction in 1215, to honor Prince Zachariah the Great and his son, Shahnshah Zakarian.
Fifty years later, Vache's son, Prince Kurd Vachutian, together with his wife Khorishah, built a library-scriptorium at Saghmosavank; an inscription on the library's southern wall conveys a sad story of the premature death of their daughter, and their intention to dedicate the monastery to her memory.
In 1890, Cathohicos Mkrtich Khrimian ("Khrimian Hayrig") undertook a renovation of the monastery, but throughout the Soviet period the Holy Zion Church languished inoperative.
More than a century after Khrimian Hayrig's effort, another Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Karekin I Sarkissian, initiated a substantial restoration of Saghmosavank. As a result, it has been a functioning center since 2001.