The monastery was built on the traditional site of martyrdom of Bartholomew the Apostle, who is reputed to have brought Christianity to Armenia in the first century.

According to tradition the monastery was founded by the Arsacid King Sanatruk in the first century on the tomb of Bartholomew the Apostle,[7] who healed him from leprosy.

Բարդուղիմէոսի սրբազան առաքելոյ առաջին լուսաւորչին Հայաստանեաց աշխարհի» (Ays ē tapan hangstean sb.

[8] The western façade of the gavit had a large portal with the sculpture of, what was believed to be, Bartholomew the Apostle on a horseback, killing a dragon.

[8] The monastery was abandoned in 1915 during the Armenian genocide although a final liturgy was allowed by Levon Tutundjian [de Vartavan] to be given by a priest, in the presence of his soldiers, on August 14, 1916, a day before the feast of the Assumption of Mary.

Tutundjian, who was attached to the French Mission in the Caucasus, and his troops spent part of the summer 1916 in the monastery sleeping in the monks' cells.

[8] In 1990, due to the Kurdish insurgency in south-eastern Turkey, the entire site of the monastery came under control of the Police Special Operations Department (Özel Harekât), which had a base around it.

"[14] It remained inaccessible to visitors until 2013[16] when the local police station was moved to another location[5] as the PKK and the Turkish government agreed on a ceasefire and a peace process started.

[5][3] In July 2011, Van Governor Munir Karaloğlu visited the site and gave instructions to launch restoration works.

[20][21] Van Province Culture Director Muzaffer Aktuğ stated in February 2014 that the restoration works would start within that year and noted that it would boost tourism.