Hasan-Jalal Dawla, an Armenian prince of Inner Khachen, founded the church. The article names no architect. The infobox gives groundbreaking in 1216 and completion in 1238, and it was consecrated on July 22, 1240. His son Atabek and his wife Mamkan completed the gavit, which the text dates to 1266 and other scholars to 1261.
The cruciform church measures 40 by 58 feet (12.3 by 17.75 m) outside, with a 16-sided cupola and two-story sacristies at the four corners. The square gavit measures 39 by 43 feet (11.8 by 13.25 m). Exterior reliefs include the Crucifixion and Adam and Eve. The article does not specify the main building stone.
It was a cathedral and monastery, and the seat of the Albanian Catholicosate in the late 14th century. Reopened in 1989 after Soviet-era closure, it was damaged in the early 1990s. Azerbaijan calls it Ganjasar and an Albanian temple, which Armenian and independent historians dispute.
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