Garni - Geghard - Master class - Tsakhkadzor

Garni Fortress - Geghard Monastery

We suggest going across time and space, from paganism to Christianity, from the pagan temple of the Sun God in the first century to the "cave monastery" Geghardavank, which name derives from Longinus' spear. The Roman centurion pierced the corpse of Jesus Christ on the Cross with this spear, and the Apostle Thaddeus transported its point to Armenia, along with many other relics. This shrine was once kept in the Geghard monastery complex (which means "spear" in Armenian), but currently, it is kept at the Etchmiadzin museum.

Tsaghkadzor

As locals joke, in winter it's skiers' time to come here, and in summer – mountaineers'. Look yourself: the Kecharis monastery complex, the Orbeli Brothers Museum, the monument to Leonid Yengibarov, Osip Mandelstam's house, finally (drum roll!) beautiful ski slopes with a total length of more than 35 km – and all this in the popular ski and climatic resort of Tsakhkadzor, which means "valley of flowers" in Armenian.