Hardly any Australians visit this ancient country, but here’s why you should

Geghard Monastery, here in the highlands of central Armenia, is one of the country’s most notable cultural centres and, in a space famous for its acoustics, this choir of opera singers adds to the resonance. Intimate, moving, the performance has been arranged specially for our Bunnik Tours group.

“They are singing the psalms, the songs that would be sung in church,” our guide Khach whispers to me as we stand listening on the tomb’s edge.

As well as a masterpiece of medieval architecture, Geghard Monastery is also an important symbol of a country that has carved its history as the world’s first Christian country. The original monastery was established here by Gregory the Illuminator, the man who founded the Armenian Apostolic Church and converted the country to Christianity in 301. He built Geghard on a site where pagans once worshipped the sun, so they would know where to come when enlightened.

In the main church, built over that original monastery almost a millennium ago, I see candlelight flickering on dark brick walls, water trickling through chapels hewn into the cliffside, and crosses cut directly into stone. The air is cool, the mood reverent. History is all around. For centuries, Geghard held what is said to be the spear used to pierce Jesus at his crucifixion, before it was moved closer to the capital Yerevan (although it’s worth noting that three other countries also claim to have the real spear).

With deep history and rich tradition, the Armenian Church is an understandable focus for our five days in the country, part of a 22-day journey with Bunnik Tours that also includes Azerbaijan and Georgia. Geghard is just one stop on a journey that takes us from lakes to mountaintops as we trace the evolution of its Christian monuments.

“To say we have important churches and unimportant churches is not fair, but we have churches that are more visited or less visited,” Khach explains. “Location and setting matter a lot.”

There’s the location and setting of Sevanavank Monastery, for example, founded in the 9th century on a small island in Armenia’s largest body of water, Lake Sevan. It was once used for the exile of sinning monks, who had to live under a regime of no meat, wine or women.

These days, the island is a peninsula after the Soviets drained much of the water for irrigation and hydroelectricity. It would make it easy to escape … but also easy to visit, with just a climb up a long set of stairs to two stone churches perched on the upper side of the coastline, where you’ll find engraved memorial steles inside and glittering views across the water outside.

To reach another dramatic site, Noravank Monastery, we drive through a narrow ravine, rich red rockfaces looming on either side, before walking up a final hilltop, wind ricocheting off the cliffs. Here, I stop to admire the unusual facade of the main Surb Astvatsatsin Church, with the ground-floor door actually leading into a tomb, while stairs framing the entrance lead up to the worship area on the second floor.

And then there’s Khor Virap Monastery, on the plains close to the border of Turkey, surrounded by formidable stone fortifications crowning a solitary knoll. It was here that Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned in a pit for 13 years by the pagan king who he eventually converted, leading to that official declaration of Armenia as the world’s first Christian country.

You can feel the solemnity in the church and chapel that were built around this pit, even if the queue for the tight climb down into the prison almost feels like a busy tourist trap. There’s a carving of Saint Gregory “curing the king of madness” and a well-adorned altar. But one of the most iconic photos is actually from the road, with the church in front of the imposing snow-capped Mount Ararat.

If there’s one icon that recurs more often than Saint Gregory in Armenia, it’s Mount Ararat (even though it’s technically been in Turkey since 1921). The mountain is said to be the spot where Noah’s Ark landed after that flood of biblical proportions, but it was also a focus of pre-Christian worship. A profound national symbol, its name has been adopted for patriotism … and marketing.

“Someone can be called Ararat from Ararat, he can sit on his balcony looking at Mount Ararat, drinking Ararat brandy, smoking an Ararat cigar, then have some Ararat beer,” Khach laughs.

My 80-year-old mother said she was done travelling, but this trip changed it all
But cut through all the brand names, and at its heart is a connection between their land and Christianity that Armenians believe goes back as far as the first book of the Old Testament. It’s reflected in the ancient spiritual history of Mount Ararat, in the gorgeous monasteries dotted throughout the country, and in the angelic voices of a choir singing psalms.

While Armenia is not a country that gets a lot of tourists (official figures show only 4000 Australians visited last year), this deep religious heritage is a major drawcard. Especially considering the news that Etchmiadzin Cathedral – the world’s oldest cathedral and “The Vatican of Armenia” – has reopened after being closed for renovations for six years, it feels like a good time to bear witness to an ancient faith.

TRIP NOTES
Explore verdict: Tourism may be relatively new for Armenia, but there’s millennia of history to delight culture-seekers.

Getting there: The most convenient flights from Australia to Yerevan are through Doha or Dubai.

Staying there: Rooms at DoubleTree by Hilton in Yerevan start from $180 a night.

On tour: Bunnik Tours’ 22-day trip to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan starts from $12,795 per person, with airfares included.

Explore more: bunniktours.com.au; armenia.travel

The writer was a guest of Bunnik Tours