The complex belongs to the Armenian Apostolic Church with numerous khachkars (stones with elaborate engravings representing a cross) and bishop gravesites scattered throughout it.

The first church of the monastery, Surb Astvatsatsin [Wikidata] ("Holy Mother of God"), was built in the 30s and 40s of the 10th century under King Abas I Bagratuni.

In 979, by the decree of King Smbat II of Armenia, the monastery complex of Sanahin became the seat of the newly formed bishop of the Kyurikian kingdom (until the middle of the 11th century), Isaiah was ordained diocese of Tashir.

According to tradition, Grigor Magistros Pahlavuni taught at the school, and the seminary built in the corridor between the churches of Surp Astvatsatsin and Surb Amenaprkich was named after him.

During the Seljuk invasions and their rule, which began in the second half of the 11th century, as well as after the fall of the Kyurik kingdom (1113), the Sanahin monastery experienced a bad period.

From the 80s of the 12th century to the 30s of the 13th century the vestibules of the Holy Savior and Surb Astvatsatsin churches were built, the bell tower, the bookstore, the guest house (not preserved), the Zakarid family tomb, the high art of Grigor Tuteord and Sargis were erected khachkars, the Church of the Holy Savior was renovated.

At the end of the 12th century, the famous Sanahin bridge was built on the Debed river, through which the road leading to the monastery passes, and a spring in the village.

In the 12th–13th centuries, the fathers Grigor Tuteord (which means 'son of Tute'), Hovhannes Khachents (teacher of Zakare and Ivane Zakaryan princes), and Vardan were famous in the Sanahin monastery.

In the middle of the 17th century, during the leadership of Archbishop Sargis Arghutyan, the main structures of the monastery, which were damaged by earthquakes, were significantly renovated.

The architectural forms and decoration are generally simple, monumental, with a restrained emphasis on cornices, doors, and window frames on flat wall surfaces.

The artistic expression of the interior spaces was created by the combination of roofs, districts, vaulted arches, domes, with the simple, logical and symmetrical structure of the pillars bearing them.

The oldest of the existing buildings is the Church of the Holy Mother of God, which was built during the reign of King Abbas I Bagratuni in the circa 930-950.

The church, around which the complex is formed, is one of the earliest examples of the cruciform dome subtype typical of the Armenian medieval classical architecture.

There is reason to believe that it continued, the drum of the original dome of the church and the High Tabernacle, which were destroyed by the earthquake and were restored with simpler tools, were decorated in that way.

With its content, inventive idea and style, this work became a prominent phenomenon in the Armenian medieval monumental art, it was a precedent for further similar sculptures (Haghpat, Ani, etc.).

According to lithographic data, the church was first completely renovated in 1181 with the efforts of the monastery's leader Hovhannes Vardapet and the support of Grigor Tuteord, a Kurdish amira.

This spatial complex plastic structure is given a special artistic expression by the woven ornaments of the columns, the caps, the symbolic sculptures of the animals' heads.

[1] Abbot Yovhannēs built the structure and left a dedicatory inscription:[2] In the year 630 (ie 1181 CE), at the time of the victorious king Georg, and amirspasalar Sargis and his sons Zak‘arē and Iwanē, and amira K‘urd, I, Yovannēs, Abbot of the holy monastery (re)built this once existing church and a gawit‘ from its foundations, with the help of amir K‘urd and the great vardapet Grigor and Christ God, with great hope...[2]The corridor between the churches of Astvatsatsin and Amenaprkich forms the academy or Seminary.

The bookstore and St. Gregory's Chapel were built in 1063 on the initiative of Father Dioscoros Sanahnetsi under the leadership of David Anhoghin's daughter, Queen Hranush.

The cylindrical plane of the façade and the entrance frame is made of elegant, decorative masonry columns, and the heavier sections of the wall between the tabernacles are lined with vertical, triangular niches in the plan.

In 1652, the dome destroyed by the earthquake was completely rebuilt, the upper parts of the walls distorting the original appearance of the chapel and its symmetry.

The second floor consists of three small adjoining apses, one of which has an insignificant construction protocol preserved on the entrance facade, according to which the bell tower was built by Vag, Abas' son.

The third floor is a complete hall, covered with the construction of intersecting arches supported by four pairs of columns, bearing the bell tower.

The chapel (second half of the 13th century) is a simple, rectangular vaulted hall with two equal eastern tabernacles and a richly designed western entrance.

The first (built in the late 10th or early 11th century) is a semi-arched vaulted hall with three small chapels raised on the roof, the central one of which has a rectangular shape and the edge one has a circular plan.