Khotakerats Monastery (also Surb Astvatsatsin Monastery of Karkop) is located in Vayots Dzor province, about 1.5 km northwest of the village of Khachik, on the territory of the historical settlement of Karkop. The monastery is built on a small platform on a mountainside and is included in the list of Armenia's immovable historical and cultural monuments.
The Khotakerats monastic complex consisted of the main Surb Astvatsatsin church and adjoining structures. The main church is dated to the 10th century. The monastic complex includes the main Surb Astvatsatsin church, its adjoining gavit, and a pair of chapels. The church is built of small, roughly dressed basalt stones.
The surviving main structure, the Surb Astvatsatsin church, belongs to the domed, cross-shaped type. On the exterior the church has a rectangular volume, while the interior space is organized on a cross-shaped plan, with side chambers in the four corners. The walls are built of roughly worked basalt stones.
The church's original roof and dome have not survived. Today mainly the walls stand, while of the monastery's other structures, the foundations of the gavit and the remains of individual buildings have survived.
The monastery's early structure was later destroyed by a powerful earthquake. It was rebuilt by the Syunik princess Shushan, named in the monastery's wall inscriptions. It was rebuilt again at the end of the 13th century, under the patronage of Smbat Orbelian and the supervision of Bishop Sargis of Noravank.
