The Garni temple and the Geghard monastery

New day, new visit. This time we are talking about two very different things. The Garni temple and the Geghard monastery, two close sites that are easily visited in two to three hours.

The first, a Hellenic temple, is situated around 30 Km southeast of Yerevan.

It was probably dedicated to Mithra and was built with the money King Tiridates I of Armenia got from Nero, when he visited Rome. Destroyed by an earthquake in 1679, it lied in ruins until the XX century, when it was rebuilt between 1969 and 1979.

The temple itself isn't of particular interest. We have plenty of those in Italy. Its importance lies in the fact that it is the only pagan temple in Armenia that survived the Christianization of the country in the early IV century, and and the only Greco-Roman colonnaded building in Armenia and the entire former Soviet Union. Not bad, uh?

The Geghard monastery is an entirely different matter. 10 Km after Garni,  we enter Indiana Jones territory, here. Situated in the Kotayk province, it is an impressive edifice, partly carved in a mountain. The main chapel was built in 1215, but the monastery complex was founded in the IV century by Gregory the Illuminator at the site of a sacred spring inside a cave. The monastery had thus been originally named Ayrivank, meaning "the Monastery of the Cave". The name commonly used for the monastery today, Geghardavank (Գեղարդավանք), meaning "the Monastery of the Lance". The lance in Echmiadzin, used to be kept here.

The echo is impressive. Choir in this monastery must be haunting. But this is just a part of it. In fact, following a small stone staircase on the left of the main building, we find a small corridor, leading to another smaller chapel, dedicated to St. Gregor, carved into the very mountain. Here we go into real Indiana Jones stuff.

Not as famous, this place was in my opinion, on par with Tatev. For its beauty, ruggedness and because it was repeatedly destroyed as well, despite having been built in some fuckoff place. Really, guys, you're not cut for this, next time try the damn bottom of lake Sevan.