Surb Karapet Monastery (Armenian: Մշո Սուրբ Կարապետ վանք, Msho Surb Karapet vank, “Surb Karapet monastery of Mush”,[A] also known by other names) was an Armenian Apostolic monastery in the historic province of Taron, about 30 km (19 mi) northwest of Mush (Muş), in present-day eastern Turkey. Surb Karapet translates to “Holy Precursor” and refers to John the Baptist, whose remains are believed to have been stored at the site by Gregory the Illuminator in the early fourth century. The monastery subsequently served as a stronghold of the Mamikonians—the princely house of Taron, who claimed to be the holy warriors of John the Baptist, their patron saint. It was expanded and renovated many times in later centuries. By the 20th century it was a large fort-like enclosure with four chapels.

Historically, the monastery was the religious center of Taron and was a prominent pilgrimage site. It was considered the most important monastery in Turkish (Western) Armenia and the second most important of all Armenian monasteries after Etchmiadzin. From the 12th century the monastery was the seat of the diocese of Taron, which had an Armenian population of 90,000 in the early 20th century. It attracted pilgrims on several occasions annually and host large celebrations. The monastery was burned and robbed during the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and later abandoned. Its stones have since been used by the local Kurds for building purposes.

The walls were made from smoothly hewn yellow stones, decorated in places with red and black stones, which formed patterns of crosses, swastikas and chessboard motifs. The towers and walls of the fortress were decorated with many bas-reliefs of a dragon, seizing the heads of a bull or an eagle or holding a lamb in its talons and a tiger in movement. The architectural design of the “Kars” and “Dvin” gates give the “Smbat” walls a monumental aspect. These massive gates, found by archaeologists during excavations, were covered in thick iron plates and were held shut by beams, encircled with hoops at the end.

Having completed his construction work on the fortress, king of Armenia Smbat went on to build a number of beautiful buildings and a marvellous palace complex on the acropolis. The palace, which stood on the top of a hill, was surrounded by a separate system of fortress walls and was the principal residence of the Bagratids. The king’s official rooms and the residential part of the palace were divided off from one another by a wide corridor and the whole palace took up one sixth of the acropolis (4,900 square metres) and consisted of many rooms. In the North-Western corner of the palace there was a reception room (21 metres x 10.5 metres), which was faced with smoothly hewn stone and decorated with a multi-faceted carved colonnade. In the next room, figures of animals, framed with plants were moulded in plaster. In a third room, which was built in the form of a basilica, the walls were decorated with military scenes and covered in gold leaf; the arched wooden ceiling was decorated with carvings.

Jermuk occupies an area which is historically considered as part of the Vayots Dzor canton of the Syunik province of Greater Armenia. It was first mentioned during the 13th century by historian Stepanos Orbelian in his work History of the Province of Sisakan. The remains of an ancient cyclopeanfortress and the ruins of an 8th-century basilica testify that the region around the fountains of Jermuk has been settled long before the 13th century.[4] The area of Jermuk has been ruled by the Siunia dynasty between the 10th and 13th centuries, when Vayots Dzor was part of the Kingdom of Syunik. The princes of Syunik regarded the mineral springs of Jermuk as healing and built several pools filled with it, thereby making the little town their holiday destination. During the Middle Ages, the Silk Road passed through the area of Vayots Dzor, particularly the road that currently links the town of Martuni with Yeghegnadzor to the northwest of Jermuk.