WORLD’S BEST WALNUTS – AND MUCH ELSE IN ARMENIA
By Sven Krogius
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Nov 16 2011
by contributor ([email protected]), published online
11-16-2011
Walnuts! Yes, if you want the freshest, best tasting walnuts the
world has to offer go to Yerevan. Not dried out, seen-better-days,
dull dark brown specimens these, but utterly whole (all four quarters
– but without the unpleasant, inedible dividing membranes), light
organic tan in color and practically chewy. I bought a double fistful
in the Central Bazaar in Yerevan for 1,000 dram (about three dollars)
that pleasurably fortified me for the long weekend.
Osip Mandelstam, a Russian poet who visited Armenia in 1930, and
credited it with reviving his poetic voice, called Yerevan a “roasted
nut” of a city in his poem “Armenia.” And when I later learned that
the ancient Armenian scribes used walnut oil to copy sacred texts, I
wasn’t in the least surprised – this delicious nut does have something
of the holy in it.
But first some background. Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, dates
from ancient times. According to the guide books, Yerevan traces
its founding back to the 8th century BCE, with the construction of
Erebuni fortress, the ruins of which can be seen on a large hill not
far outside the center of Yerevan. (I did visit the Erebuni site,
but was underwhelmed. It’s a far cry from Pompeii or even Knossos,
and it’s hard to believe that much of what remains dates back to 782
BCE – when the Assyrians were big players in the area.)
Near Mount Ararat
And the general area about Yerevan dates from the very beginning of
Biblical times. The peak of Mount Ararat, where according to the Book
of Genesis Noah’s Ark came to rest, is located a mere 30 miles away
(in Turkey).
(While I gather that there are rather stunning views of Mount Ararat
from Yerevan, the haze blocked the view of Ararat during the whole of
my trip.) Also, and a source of great pride to the country, Armenia
is regarded as being the first country in the world to officially
convert to Christianity – in 301 – prior to Constantine’s legalization
of the worship of Christianity in Rome in 313.
A quick sidebar on Armenian names. Think the “yan” or “ian” ending
and you’ve probably got an Armenian attached. (This was originally
a patronymic suffix, meaning “son of,” so “Petrosian” would be the
equivalent of “Peterson.”) Some luminaries include Kirk Kerkorian,
the casino and movie mogul (not to be confused with Dr. Kevorkian),
Vartan Gregorian, William Saroyan, more recently, a reality TV star
named Kim Kardashian.
The city itself is not an architectural wonder: mostly Uncle Joe
(Stalin) type apartment buildings and a slick avenue in the middle of
the city that is very new. But it does have a southern climate charm.
Many of its streets are lined with big leafy sycamore trees giving it
that welcoming allee feeling. Republic Square, one of the main squares
in the city, which houses the National Art Gallery and a number of
government ministries, also has some very attractive curve-fronted
terracotta-colored classical buildings.
One thing that hit me early in my city wanderings was the variety
of the street tiles. The predominant pattern seemed to be the square
and circle, where smaller circular tiles graced the four corners of
a larger square tile, but it hardly had a monopoly. There was the
jagged or wavy rectangle, the hexagon, the fan pattern, trapezoidal,
standard square tiles with eye patterns and cross patterns, and
plenty of gray slate. (And in such contrast to the unvarying, cold,
gray rectangular tiles that have been recently mandated on all Moscow
streets). Hardly pedestrian being a pedestrian in Yerevan.
Museum ‘After Hours’
My first port of call on the evening of my arrival was the “Mother
Armenia” statue that stands high above the northeastern edge of the
city. She’s a huge 23-meter copper guardian, who balances a massive
sword in front of her, and stands on a large stone pedestal and
faces over in the direction of Turkey to the Southwest. She replaced
a statue of Stalin that was originally on the site sometime in the
1960s. I arrived after dark, but the fellow manning the museum in the
base of the pedestal beckoned me in with an invitation that I could
contribute whatever I wanted for the “after hours” favor. The small
rather childishly compiled exhibition dedicated to the Nagorno-Karabakh
war with Azerbaijan probably isn’t worth a special visit, but it does
show how seriously they take their military history. Mother Armenia
herself, however, is a great sight at night, and bathed in the klieg
lights, she really sparkles.
The next morning, my first visit was to Matenadaran, Yerevan’s
ancient manuscripts library. The collection available for public
viewing is small but compelling. At the front of the main building
of the museum is a statue of Saint Mesrob Mashtots, who invented
the squiggly-looking Armenian alphabet in 405. But please note that
the collection is now housed in an annex behind the main museum. The
collection of illuminated manuscripts makes for good viewing. Among the
highlights: a medical encyclopedia entitled “Useless for the Ignorant”
and the enormous 28 kilogram “Homilies of Mush.”
Genocide Museum
Next up was the Museum of the Armenian Genocide, which I highly
recommend. It’s a couple of kilometers to the west of Yerevan’s
center. Outside the entrance to the museum (which is actually
underground) are a large spire and a series of slanting slabs of
grey rock which form a sort of bower over an eternal flame. The
museum display is very moving, showing a series of black and white
photos depicting various horrors from the genocide – focusing on
the atrocities committed during 1915. There are pictures of Armenian
doctors being hung, Armenians being marched out to the Syrian deserts
and plenty of emaciated bodies. One particularly telling photo showed
one of the quarters of the city of Van (now in Turkey south of Mount
Ararat) before and after the Turkish invasion of 1915 – in the first,
an attractive, dense mass of buildings, in the second, not much more
than a pile of rubble.
Based on a chart that appears at the end of the exhibition, the City
of Van was reduced from a population of 197,000 in 1914 to 500 in
1922. There are also excerpts from Henry Morgenthau, Sr.’s account
of the genocide taken from his book “Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story.”
Morgenthau was the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from
1913 to 1916, and reported that the Turks were “giving the death
warrant to a whole race.” The big villains of the exhibition, the
“Three Pashas” – the Ottoman minister of the interior, Mehmed Talaat,
the minister of war, Ismail Enver, and the minister of the Navy,
Ahmed Djemal – are pictured as well. They apparently justified the
harsh treatment of the Armenians on the ground that the Armenians
were effectively fifth columnists, collaborating with the Russians,
enemies of the Ottoman empire.
Temple, Monastery
After hitting the ruins of Erebuni, I decided it was time to trek out
to two of the most visited tourist sites in Armenia: the Garni temple
and the Geghard Monastery. Geghard is about a 40-minute drive to the
east of the city and Garni is along the same road a few miles closer
than Geghard. I flagged down a cabbie who offered to take me there
for 3,000 dram (about the equivalent of 9 dollars – almost everything
is dirt cheap in the country). There was a soon-to-be-discovered
additional cost, however, as the nice fellow had terrible breath,
and I had to keep the window fully down for the full trek and ask as
few questions as possible to keep myself out of harm’s way.
Geghard is a gem, beautifully located on a steep green gorge. The main
church dates from the 13th century and sports a beautiful rounded
tower and a stone portal with fine carvings. The monastery is named
after the holy lance which pierced Christ’s side at the crucifixion,
but the lance itself now resides at the main church in Echmiadzin
(more about Echmiadzin later). As I visited at dusk, I got a good
sense of the mystery of the place, which is partly carved out of the
surrounding rock, but wasn’t able to capture much on film.
Garni was next. It was already 8 p.m. or so and quite dark, but an
accommodating guard let me in to the complex for 1,000 dram. He handed
me a flashlight and gave me leave to explore. Garni is Hellenic temple
that was probably originally constructed in the first century CE,
but was then destroyed and reconstructed in the 1970s. From what
little I could make of it in the night, the 1970s aspect prevailed.
The next and final day I opted to visit Echmiadzin, which is described
as the Vatican of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It is where the
Catholicos (the top figure in the Armenian church) resides and has
the main cathedral of the country, Mayr Tachar. Echmiadzin is about
30 minutes by car to the west of Yerevan, and the trip is much less
scenic than to Geghard. The cathedral complex is very attractive,
swarming with monks with pointed cowls. The day I visited they were
ordaining thirty-three new bishops, and access to the lance of Christ
was barred – but the nice hubbub of the ordination ceremonies made
up for it in full.
And so back to the Yerevan airport (and one bizarre looking
bad-science-fiction-movie airport at that) and on to Moscow. And
I couldn’t help but musing as Mandelstam apparently did, that I
was returning to a rather grim reality after a delightful Armenian
interlude.
Sven Krogius is an attorney currently based in Moscow. He is a son
of editor Henrik Krogius.
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