The monastery is built in part at the top of the cliff, in part halfway down. At the top, there is a three-cham­bered chapel. Below, the walls of the canyon form one of the four walls of the struc­tures. There are caves with­in the monas­tic com­plex, khachkars and carv­ings. St Mark’s Church was built by the Princes Zakare and Ivane Zakar­i­an in 1187. The oth­er build­ings were built by Abbot Samuel in 1206.