One of the most remarkable areas of the spiritual heritage of ancient Ar­menia is the cult of ancient Armenians and the complex of institutions related to it. Early medieval Armenian written sources left little but important in­for­mation about them. Some of these data allude to unique sacred structures - bagins (Agathangelos, Movses Khorenatsi). Based on the context, it is assumed that the bagins were part of the temples, or were independent structures located in separate sanctuaries.

Until now, there is no stable opinion in Armenology about the external struc­ture of bagins and their specific function. Moreover, judging from the context of the written sources, these two were closely related to each other. At the same time, in Armenology, there are at least five definitions for bagins equally acceptable to academic science. This very fact  indicates that the de­fi­nitions are just scientific hypotheses, not supported by new evidence which is highly necessary to shed light not only on the ideological side of the ancient Armenian statehood in general, but also on the pagan religion of the Armenians and the rituals in particular. It is a separate issue whether the Armenian temples and the structures adjacent to them remained in a strictly traditional form until the dawn of Christianity and were similar to the creations of their Eastern neigh­bors, or had a more Hellenized appearance.

The only way to get an adequate answer to these questions is to compare the data of the written sources with the religious structures of the neighboring peoples and, more importantly, with the archaeological material of Armenia. Until recently, such archeological data did not appear, leaving Armenologists puzzled as to which of the five possible versions is closer to reality. Are the Ba­gins mehyans, statues, altars, sanctuaries, or a complex of buildings? It should be noted that some of these definitions are complementary rather than cont­ra­dictory and the latter of them offers a rather extensive and vague for­mu­lation.

The solution to the problem is starting to emerge in the territory of the large temple complex of Hoghmik excavated in the north-west of the Republic of Ar­menia, where unique monumental structures included in an open-air complex have been discovered in the last two archaeological seasons. It is these that must be seen as the long-sought bagins, the composition of which is so elaborate and re­strained that, together with the accompanying material, it enables certain judg­ments about the rituals performed here at the time.