Armenia has a long and complicated history, too long to address here. They emerged as a distinct people in the 6^th c. BCE. Armenia became the first country to declare Christianity their state religion in 301 CE (12 years before Emperor Constantine did the same for the Roman empire in 313 CE). An important traumatic event was the Ottoman genocide of some 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 – 1923. Armenia became an independent state in 1918. Over the last 200 years, the territory of modern-day Armenia has shifted from a Muslim majority to an almost monoethnically Armenian population.

In 1828, Armenians made up 30% of the population, outnumbered by Azeris, Turks, and Kurds. The mutual ethnic cleansing by Armenia and Azerbaijan in 1988-1994 removed pretty much all of the 300,000 Muslims.

In 1988, interethnic fighting between the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijanis broke out shortly after the parliament of Nagorno-Karabakh, an autonomous oblast in Azerbaijan, voted to unify the region with Armenia. The war pitted Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, backed by Armenia, against Azerbaijan. Following the Armenian victory, both Azerbaijan and Turkey closed their borders and imposed a blockade which they retain to this day. These events severely affected the economy of the fledgling republic, and closed off its main routes to Europe. This also affected our travel since we couldn’t go directly from Azerbaijan (or Turkey) to Armenia.

We entered Armenia in the north from Georgia and drove south to Yerevan. From there we explored various places and our GPS tracks are shown by the white line.

Just south of the border crossing into Armenia, the monasteries of Haghpat and Sanahin are a UNESCO World Heritage site. Besides the beautiful, somber Romanesque Churches, there are many intricate often lace-like carvings of crosses and crufiction scenes like the one on the left.

Of the less than 5% non-Armenians, there is one group of some 80,000 Yezedi Kurds that is especially fascinating. They are among the last pagans in the Middle East following an ancient gnostic faith, a living link to Zoroastrianism. Several of their villages are located on the highway between Aparan and Ashtarak, their graveyards protected by peaked roofs built over the graves.

At the village of Kuchak (near Aparan in Aragatsotn District), a 10th century Yesdi graveyard lies next to the road,

There are about 20 small stone horses no more than 2 feet high.

The horses resemble stone horses found from the Hsia Dynasty in China, or Mongolian monument stones from the medieval period.

Another pillar of Armenian nationhood arrived in 405 CE with Mesrop Mashtots’ invention of the Armenian alphabet. On the left is a recent monument that celebrates Mashtots’ Armenian alphabet

North of Ashtarak are two beautiful early Armenian churches. The church of Zion in Sagmosavan on the right, which was built in 1215, and the church of Karapet in Hovhanavank, which was built in 1221, belong to the same type of cross-winged dome structures.

Interior of the above church.

The on the right is the church Karapet in Hovhanavank (1221). This picture is also the background for this web page.

Left and below are pictures of the impressive interior of the church of Karapet in Hovhanavank.

Echmiadzin, about 14 mi west of Yerevan, is the spiritual centre of Armenia and the seat of the Armenian Apostolic church. Historically, the focal point of the city is the Echmiadzin Cathedral, the oldest church in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was originally built by Saint Gregory the Illuminator as a vaulted basilica in 301-303, when Armenia was the only country in the world with Christianity as the state religion (a few years later in 313 emperor Constantine did the same for the Roman empire). On the right side is the main altar.

Having been the first Christian state, the Armenians believe this resulted in a special relationship with their god. When Gregory wanted to know where to locate the new church, god sent his only begotten son down to earth to designate with a golden hammer the exact location. On the left is the altar of descent located in the center of the cathedral.

The most important relic in the cathedral is a piece of Noah’s ark (allegedly found on Mt. Ararat) on the right just under the gem studded cross.

There are several other very old churches in Echmiadzin. On the left is the church of Surp Rhipsime dating from 618.

According to legend, Rhipsime was of noble birth. She belonged to a community of virgins, numbering 35 and under the leadership of Gayane, in Rome; she was known to be extremely beautiful, and attracted the notice of Diocletian (yes, the same Diocletian we encountered in Azerbaijan. Small world). To avoid his advances she, along with her community, fled the city, going first to Alexandria before settling in Echmiadzin. Rhipsime again was noticed for her beauty, this time by King Tiridates, who proceeded to pursue her. Upon being brought before him, she refused his advances and was punished by being roasted alive. Gayane was then put to death by Armenian soldiers, as were all members of her community save one; this woman, Christiana, later became a missionary in Georgia. The altar of St. Rhipsime is on the right.

Tomb of St. Rhipsime.

Another church in the Echmiadzin area is St. Gayane built in 630 CE. The fate of St. Gayane was described above.

This stone outside the church of St. Gayane has salt in the indentations as it is still used today for animal sacrifices.

Interior of St. Gayane.

Zvartnots cathedral was built when Armenia was under Byzantine control in 653. It collapsed at the end of the 10^th c. from unknown causes.

In Yerevan is a memorial of the Armenian genocide by the Ottomans. The eternal flame inside the memorial is the thumbnail for the Armenian part of this website and at the end of this page.

The monastery of Khor Virap, 37 mi south of Yerevan, is the place where Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned for 13 years. Mt. Ararat’s snow fields are visible in the background.

The 17^th c. Astvatsatsin church is the main church in Khor Virap.

We visited an Armenian indoor market with a large selection of flat breads (right) and beautifully displayed produce (below).

The Garni Temple dates from the 1^st c. CE. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 1679 and was restored recently.

Geghart monastery was founded in the 4th century, according to tradition by St Gregory the Illuminator. It contains a number of rock churches and the church on the right which dates from the 13^th c.

Entrance to one of the rock churches – which were carved out of the rock.

On the left is a high relief of two lions with their heads turned to the onlooker. Between the lions and below the chain there is an eagle with half-spread wings and a lamb in its claws.

Interior of one of the rock churches.
Armenian bread being prepared.

Just north of Lake Sevan are several 12^th-13^th c. churches at Goshavank.

The laced crosses created by the carver Pavgos in Goshavank stand out among the rest. The best of them is a 1291 cross with the maker’s name carved in the bottom left star, which is one of the most intricate examples in existence. The finely carved lacy ornaments are arranged in layers in which the basic elements of the composition — a cross on a shield-shaped rosette and eight-pointed star filling the corners of the middle-cross section—show clearly. The intricate openwork ornaments vary — a clear-cut geometrical pattern constitutes the background, and the accentuating elements form a complicated combination of a floral and geometrical ornament which never repeats itself.

Lake Sevan is the largest lake in Armenia and one of the largest high-altitude lakes in the world. Lake Sevan is situated at the altitude of 1900m above sea level.

The Russians drained the lake just like they drained the Aral Sea. At left is a graph of the water level from 1920-2000. The vertical axis is lake level above msl and the horizontal axis shows years.

There are still plenty of cray fish in the lake, but a number of fish species are endangered.

Sevanavank consists of two remaining churches built at the end of the 9^th c. on the peninsula near the city of Sevan. The peninsula was an island until the USSR decided to drain a lot of the water from the lake and the water level dropped more than 20 meters.

The eastern side of Mt. Ararat seen from Yerevan. This is the place where Noah dried out.

Finally, in Yerevan we visited a museum dedicated to an Armenian artist named S. Parajanov. One of his creations shown on the left struck (?!) us: he glued the pieces of a smashed Meissen china plate (including the blue crossed swords that identify Meissen china) to a canvas. The pattern of the plate is the same as Juergen’s sister Beate’s - she has an entire set of it…

Flame inside the holocaust memorial.