Tanahat Monastery stands about 4 miles (7 kilometers) southeast of Vernashen in Vayots Dzor Province, Armenia. It is called the Red Monastery because it was built of red stone. Construction took place between the eighth and thirteenth centuries, on the site of a pagan temple to the goddess Anahit. The first Christian temple was founded in the fifth century.
Stepanos Syunetsi was buried here in 735, and a small chapel was built over his grave. The Church of Saint Stepanos was built on that site between 1273 and 1279 under Prince Prosh and his family, of dark bluish basalt. The Church of Saint Nshan, from the thirteenth century, stands beside it on the north. A carved horseman of the Proshian dynasty decorates its western entrance.
Khachkars and tombstones from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries surround the churches. Excavations in 1971 found the foundations of other buildings. Both churches were renovated in 1984.
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