The monastery of Khor Virap

Yesterday, after a visit to the Vernissage, Tatev & Co offered to drive me to the Khor Virap monastery, near the border with Turkey. It's the typical Armenian monastery (beautiful, remote and full of history), but this is something more. Khor Virap (Խոր Վիրապ) in Armenian means "deep pit", because here is the pit where king Tiridates III imprisoned Grigor Lusavorich for 14 years. Facts mix with legends, but some events led to the king repenting and saving Grigor, who was still alive, apparently thanks to a Christian widow from the local town who, under the influence of strange dream vision, regularly fed him by dropping freshly baked bread into the pit. This lead to Grigor baptising the king, who converted to Christianity in 301 and made Armenia the first Christian nation. Grigor became Saint Gregory the Illuminator, patron saint and first official head of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pit itself, which can be visited, is six metres deep and 4.4 wide. It can be freely accessed by a metal ladder. This amused me to no end. In Italy it would be fenced and forbidden to climb down, on the basis of it being extremely dangerous. I asked how many Armenians died falling in the last ten years. Surprisingly, none. No second genocide caused by slipping from a dangerous ladder. We Italians are a bunch of paranoid, always thinking people are about to get hurt by their own clumsy hands.

 

 

 

 

Once down, everything gets less amusing, if you consider the idea of spending 14 years there. Plus, because people suck, they apparently dropped the occasional snake and scorpion inside. Fun people in ancient Armenia.

 

 

 

This is one of the most important places for Armenian history, and I'm glad I managed to visit it - I missed it last year. By the time we were done, we were all a bit hungry. So, why not going to have a snack? Does it take 70 Kms to go there? Let's go!