Kecharis monastery, formerly called Kecharuk, was built in the Ayrarat region of ancient Armenia, in Varazhnunk, the 18th province, which included much of the present-day Hrazdan, Sevan and Ijevan.

A series of nationwide problems led to a halt in the rebuilding for about a decade as the 1988 Armenian earthquake hit, the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the First Nagorno-Karabakh War broke out, and Armenia was blockaded by its two allied Turkic neighbors.

The restarted work was paid for by an Armenian donor from Vienna, Vladimir Harutyunian, in memory of his parents Harutyun and Arsenik.

Judging by an inscription, it was built under Prince Vasak Khakhpakyan of the Proshyan clan (in the first quarter of the 13th century) by the architect Vetsik, in whose memory a khachkar, ornamented with highly artistic carving, was put up a little south of the church.

The Katoghike church belongs to the cross-winged domed type and has two-story annexes in all the four corners of the prayer hall.

The gavit, built in the second half of the 12th century and attached to the western facade of S. Grigor church, is an early structure of this type.

As distinct from the portals of the churches, the only western entrance is built as a rectangular opening with a niche framed with bunches of small columns and an arch.

In the interior, the fine geometrical ornaments on the capitals of the columns and on the cornice of the tent base immediately catch the eye.

The chapels situated between the churches of Grigor Lusavorich and Surp Nshan were small rectangular ones, with an altar apse and vaulted ceilings.

The chapel adjacent to the church of Gregory served as the burial vault of Grigor Magistros Pahlavuni, which means that it was built in the early 11th century.

The church of Surp Harutyun (Holy Resurrection), standing on a forest glade, away from the main group, was built by a son of Hasan in 1220.

A distinctive feature of the structure is that it has, on its western facade, twin openings topped with arches which rest on the wall-attached and intermediate columns.

1051 - In this year, according to available historical sources (a document kept in the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide archive in the Vatican and published in Paris in 1819 by Saint-Martin), Grigor Magistros builds church at Kecharis.

1099 - Prince Apiratian of the Pahlavuni dynasty of Shirak leads the Armenian forces and joins battle with the Seljuks near the village of Kaghzevan in the Arsharunik region, After his victory, however, he is killed by an arrow.

The monastery receives large donations which are mentioned in inscriptions on the south walls of the Churches of St, Grigor and Surp Nshan.

1196 - Prince Zakare, son of Sargis Zakarian and commander-in-chief of the Ibero-Armenian armies, rids the regions of Amberd, Bjni, Ararat and Shirak of the Seljuk invaders.

On the eastern face of khachkar, it is stated that Vetsik built a new church in the monastery and that, immediately after its completion, he died.

There is no mention of the name of the church referred to, nor it is said when Vetsik actually built it, but features of the style of the memorial cross suggest that it was made in the 13th century.

The latter is also smaller and, from being at some distance from the rest of the monastery buildings, it may therefore be deduced that it was for his having built the Katoghike that Vetsik was considered worthy of being buried near the church and of having such an outstanding monument erected to his memory.

1295 - Khachatur Kecharetsi, the renowned man of religion and lyrical poet writes his The Lament, in which he weeps over the desolate conditions of his land under the Yoke of the Tartars and deplores the enfeeblement and gradual disappearance of the Armenian leading classes and the death of the most famous Armenian princes.

Khachatur Ketcharetsi wrote a good deal of poetry and also a fresh version of the History of Alexander, King of Macedonia by Pseudo-Callisthenes, which had been widely diffused in Armenia.

The domination of Islam, plundering, persecutions and heavy taxes put an end to donations made to the monastery.

1500-1700 - In spite of the country's disastrous conditions (for Armenia is the theatre of the Turco-Persian wars), cultural and religious life continues in Kecharis.