Trip to Amberd
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posted on 06/10/08
Every Saturday my program offers us the option of going on a day long excursion outside of Yerevan. A good portion of the 25 or so people who are here this fall go on these outings. We all pile on a bus, with a vague notion of exactly where the organizers are taking us, and spend the day romping through the countryside, eating magnificent meals, and gazing out the window at the passing scenery. This past Saturday (September 20th) we took a trip just an hour outside of Yerevan (not that anything in Armenia is too from the capital city!) under Mount Aragats, the tallest peak within the current boundaries of the country.
Our first stop were these two large monoliths dedicated to the Armenian alphabet (which you can see in its entirety on the left monolith.) The right monolith is praise for the alphabet.
We ate lunch in the shade of giant stones. Lunch was sandwiches, grapes and donuts from Yum-Yum Donuts. Behind those trees was a grove with a hut and some tables where a mother and daughter were doing some domestic tasks.
After that we headed down the road to a church where Mesrop Mashtots is buried. He is the warrior turned priest who was handed down the letters to the alphabet from God in 405. Above is a statue of him relaxing under a tree, the alphabet coming out from his sleeves. Armenians really, really love their alphabet. There are a couple reasons that I can understand for this. Firstly Armenians are a very proud people, and their alphabet is one of the most visable signs of their heritage. Secondly, culture is very important to them and there is a long history of secular and religious texts. And finally, Armenians have for much of their history been a people without a land and without self-rule and have had to hold themselves together through community and - again - religion and culture. The glue that held Armenians together across borders was this alphabet. Thus Mashtots is, it seems to me, probably the most revered Armenian in history. The main street in Yerevan is named after him and his final resting place inside this church is one of the most holy sites in the Armenian church.
At the church there was a garden with each one of the Mashtot's 36 letters standing human-height. Everyone took a picture in front of the letter that their name begins with. This is me in front of the euivilant of J.
Then back in the bus for the next stop!