Surb Gayane Church is located in the southern part of Etchmiadzin city, it was erected in the area of the martyrdom of saint Gayane and her two associates. According to Agatangehos, here in 301, as a result of the efforts made by Gregory the Illuminator, the royal family represented by Trdat the Great built a chapel. The chapel of Surb Gayane was turned into ruins by the Persian king Shapukh and later restored by Sahak Partev.
In 630, Yezr I demolished the chapel and built the Surb Gayane Church of hewn tuff in its place. The church is a four-column domed basilica, the tomb of the saint is located under the main altar.
Later, the church of the holy virgin Gayane was destroyed. According to Araqel Davrizhetsi, only walls and columns remained from the Surb Gayane Church. Catholicos Philippos Aghbaketsi started the restoration of the church.
In 1688, Yeghiazar Ayntapetsi built premises for the monks, walls, attached a three-arched vestibule to the church, built the chapels of Apostles Poghos and Petros in the southern and northern sides of the church.
The complex was restored during the reign of Catholicos Gevorg IV of Constantinople.
The Armenian community of Nor Nakhichevan brought a tombstone made of black granite for the grave of holy virgin Gayane in 1910.
The monastery was renovated in 1959 and in the 1970s.
In the courtyard of the Surb Gayane Monastery there are the graves of the spiritual leaders of medieval Armenia, as well as the grave of Lusine Zakaryan, a performer of the Armenian spiritual chants.
