ARMENIA – CHRISTIAN CULTURES IN THE CAUCASUS
A beautiful and unexpected trip in the heart of Caucasus, in a fought and contested land, transit country between East and West, nearby the legendary Ararat mount, once included in the Armenian territory.
The capital, Erevan, one of the main cultural and scientific centers of the Caucasus and main center of the Armenian culture, hosts the State University, the Armenian Science Academy, an Historical Museum, an Opera House and the Matenadaran, an archive made of precious Armenian, Greek, Jewish, persian and roman manuscripts.
The city also hosts the Metz Yeghern – Genocide Museum – which includes a Memorial dedicated to the people who opposed.
In this journey to discover Armenia you can’t miss the experience of the sung Mass on sunday in the Echmiadzin Cathedral, 20 km far from Erevan, and the visit of the countless christian monasteries that you can find all cover the country, including: Khor Virap, nearby Mount Ararat, the beautiful Noravank monastery, Tatev monastery, which you can reach by cableway, and Geghard monastery, partially built in the rocks.
Nowadays Armenia, with its millenary culture, it’s the first christian country in the world and the smallest of the ex Soviet republics, independent since 1991. The territory, carved by deep valleys, volcanoes, plains, uplands and the high tips of the meridional Caucasus, extends itself between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.
A dramatic environment that affected the character of the population, which has ancient origins: a legend tells us that this populations is dated by Noah times, one of the most important and symbolic characters in the Bible.
The Armenians (the ones who live in their original country are maybe less than 5 millions) have always been a border population, plagued and carved by bloody happenings, harassed and repressed during the history and also recently.
Nowadays you can visit and know an ancient and deep seated culture, an expression of deep faith, engaged in direct and fertile exchanges with sirian, byzantine and latin traditions.
