Initially tent-roofed, it acquired triple columns on its facets and large rosettes in the piers which, together with platbands, form an unusual decorative girder around the middle of the drum height.

Haritchavank’s Cathedral belongs to the category of "Gandzasar-style" ecclesiastical edifices that were built approximately at the same time in different parts of Armenia, and were endowed with similar compositional and decorative characteristics (another example—Cathedral of the Hovhannavank Monastery).

[5] Those include umbrella-shaped dome, cruciform floor plan, narthex (often with stalactite-ornamented ceiling), and high-relief of a large cross on one of church’s walls.

The larger narthex (gavit) is adjacent to the western facade of the cathedral and is linked to the northern apse of the Church of St. Gregory.

The largest of these dates back to the second half of the 19th century, when Harich was made the summer audience of the Katholikos of Echmiadzin in 1850.

New one- and two-storey structures were erected: Katholikos’ offices, a refectory with a kitchen and a bakery, a school, a hostel for monks and disciples, an inn, stores and cattlesheds.