The Monastery was build in 13th century and is picturesquely located next to the gorge of Kasagh river. One peculiarity of this Monastery is the tympanum of the “Bearded Virgins” which are obviously also depicted in Hovanavank Monastery. There is the myth that there are five wise virgins and five stupid virgins with beards and Jesus […]
The Gorge of Dsoraget partially looks like if a giant would have cut into earth with a giant knife. I didn’t find anything like an information about the geological formation history of this site, but looking at the clear and straight edges, it nearly seams impossible that a river should have done this. Even if it […]
Odzun Basilica dates back to the 7th century and differs from other sacral buildings we have seen. Some of those extravaganzas are the proportions (height vs. width ratio) which rather evokes the thought of gothic decendance than one from the early middle ages. Second are the paintings inside the church – above all a giant […]
Haghpat Monastery was build in the 10th century and was listed – together with Sanahin Monastery – as Unesco World Heritage Site.
Alaverdi is a city of 13.000 and was the biggest center of copper mining since the 18th century. 13% of all copper of the Russian Empire came from here. During Soviet times Alaverdi has been enlarged massively to satisfy the metallurgical needs of the Soviet Union. Today there are still 500 people working in the […]
Goshavank Monastery (meaning: the Monastery of Gosh) is from the 12th or 13th century. It’s recent renovation was payed by an islamic person from the United Arabic Emirates out of unknown reasons. Rosas Haiku: Wasser Mehl und Salz Der Tonir hütet die Glut Das Brot häutet sich
My favorite sight in Armenia was this jewel of architecture at Lake Sevan. In 1932 Gevorg Kochar and Mikael Mazmanyan were commissioned to design a Writers Resort (the building behind the UFO). There were clear tendencies at the time to build with classical, armenian style elements but they argued for Modernism. In 1937 both architects […]
Sevan Lake is located at an altitude of 1,900m above sea level and its total surface is around 5,000 km2 (1/6 of Armenias total surface). Therefore Lake Sevan is one of the largest freshwater high-altitude lakes in Eurasia. During Soviet times the lake was dramatically exploited and lost more than 40% of its water. If you […]
