Saint Gevorg, better known as Mughi’s Church, is located at the southern end of Mughni village in Aragatsotn region in Armenia. It was founded in the first half of the 13th century by the Congregation of Hovhannavank , which brought the relics of St. George here.
According to tradition, part of the remains of St. George was taken from the monastery to Georgia in order to cure the Georgian king from illness. Later, the king refused to return the relics to the Armenians and instead built the Saint Gevorg Armenian Church in Tbilisi.
Saint Gevorg Church of Armenia was a famous cultural and religious center where manuscripts were copied already in 1278. The church was destroyed and restored several times during its history. The monastery also had a school founded by Bishop Abel Mkhitaryan, who later wrote the history of the monastery.
The church is famous for its high-art decorative sculptures and murals specific to Armenian church painting of the 17th-18th centuries. Most likely, the frescoes were done by Naghash Hovnathan, who painted other churches around Etchmiadzin, Yerevan and Agulis.
Saint Gevorg is a domed basilica-style church built with black, red and yellowish tuff stones. On the western side of the church, a three-arch open hall is built, on which rises the 12-column rotunda of the belfry. A dome with a cylindrical drum and an umbrella-shaped canopy rises above the spacious and high prayer hall.
The church is surrounded by a beautiful garden, which is taken care of by the villagers. In the courtyard of the church you will see khachkars, the oldest of which was carved in 932. There is also a khachkar from 1975 here , the history of which is unknown, because no one knows who brought it here.
The monastery used to be a famous shrine where people with various ailments came to be cured. The vow day of Saint Gevorg Monastery in Mughnu is the last Saturday of September.
