Scattered throughout the monastery grounds and carved into the cliff faces around it are dozens of khachkars — Armenian cross-stones, a form of religious art unique to Armenia. Each is a flat slab of tuff or basalt bearing an elaborately interlaced cross, surrounded by geometric and floral patterns of extraordinary delicacy. No two are identical; Armenian stonemasons considered each khachkar a unique spiritual statement.
The khachkars at Geghard range from the tenth century to the seventeenth and include some of the finest examples anywhere in Armenia. The most striking are set directly into the canyon walls beside the path leading to the monastery entrance, their stone blackened with age and partially colonised by lichen. Stand close and you will see that what looks like abstract pattern from a distance resolves into a dense web of interlocking knots, rosettes, and vine scrolls — the product of weeks or months of careful chiselling.