Mystical Armenia

A meeting place of ancient empires, the South Caucasus country was the world’s first to officially adopt Christianity in AD301. George Kipouros explores its spiritual landmarks

- George Kipouros

“You’re actually standing on the 1,000-year-old tombstone of an Armenian royal,” smiled Sira, my all-knowing Armenian history guide. Was I so careless not to see it? Looking down I realised the entire floor of the narthex was actually made up of tombstones – yet I was inside the Katoghike Church of Sanahin Monastery. “You don’t need to worry – that is exactly how they’d like it. They wanted to beburied here so people would step on them when coming to church,” reassured Sira.

This was a metaphorical way for future generations of Armenians to remember their ancestors’ lives and achievements. It is part of the uniqueness of Armenian churches, which are frequently credited as forming the first national style in Christian architecture, dating back to the fourth century AD.

Sanahin Monastery was my first stop on a journey up and down the country, exploring a little-visited nation still bound together by ecclesiastical tradition and symbolism. I was to discover that even for the ultra-modern Yerevanian youth, Armenian identity was closely informed by the heritage of their church. Armenians call their country Hayastan after the legendary patriarch Hayk, a great-great-grandson of Noah, who defeated the Babylonian king Bel in 2492BC and established his nation in the Ararat region.