Armenia - A hidden gem (Symphony of Stones - Geghard Monastery)

in Pinmapplelast year (edited)

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Hello my friends! As promised, there will be a second post from my trip to Armenia, after this one to Garni!

I'm afraid of being my post too long, so i preferred to split it into two, so today I'll show you the second part!

Symphony of Stones

Well, from the Temple of Garni, at a distance of a few kilometers, there is a unique geological phenomenon, which I could not miss! It's called Symphony of the stones, which I found to be terribly accurate description!

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It is one of the most well-known and beautiful natural monuments of Armenia . It is said that this natural monument is the result of the collapse of the volcanic rocks!

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As you can see on photos, there are symmetric hexagon and pentagon columns, which some of them are nearly 50 meters high!

It is not difficult to imagine how they arose, if we consider that a few kilometers away is an inactive volcano, that of Azhdahak. These magnificent rocks were formed under high pressure conditions due to the cooling and crystallization of volcanic lava. This is how the basalt rock came about

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Personally, I was afraid that something would come off, especially since I saw the warning sign, I didn't dare to get too close

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Am I the only one who reminds me of the pencils I had when I was at school? 😂

Geghard Monastery

After taking several photos of Symphony of Stones (or pencils if you prefer), we headed to the Geghard monastery! Just ten minutes later we were there! The driver told us that on weekends, due to traffic, it could take twice as long or even more!

It is a medieval monastery that almost all the locals suggested we visit! We couldn't do differently! As we arrived there we instantly spot the rocks surround the monastery.

The monastery is essentially half built and half carved into the rocks.

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From my first steps there, I understood the unique energy and atmosphere that this place has!

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Despite the fact that from the outside it looks like most Armenian monasteries, the quietness (as not many visitors had arrived there yet) gave you the opportunity to feel and be in sync with all those who passed through here and built and carved this place of worship

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Some maintenance and restoration work was done in the monastery,but nothing reduced its beauty

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What caught my interest, are the embossed decorative designs around almost every door of the monastery! Incredibly elaborate

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A character of decoration that was also extended to the wooden part of the door

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As we entered the temple, I had the illusion that time stopped and that I could magically enter this temple, the 13th century when it was almost finished! I hope the photos can convey what I experienced

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The absence of iconography, together with the combination of rock and wood, give a more minimalist feel and so close to the Christian spirit

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As the sweet candlelight illuminated the decorative rock carvings, they made me want to put down my camera and pray.

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So what I did!

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In the center of the temple, the rays of the sun, entering from the dome of the temple, dominated and provided the perfect balance between light and shadows

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Below are some of my favorite photos from my entire trip

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I went outside again to photograph the original part of the temple, which is carved into the rock and dates from the 4th century AD

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The view from above, gave me the opportunity to locate the mountain Ararat, where, according to the Bible, Noah's ark ran aground

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I hope you liked it and I didn't bore you with my chatter! The purpose of the two posts about Armenia was to show a not so popular destination, which is definitely worth visiting! Iam looking forward to your feedback! See you in comments! Kisses!

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thank you for the beautiful pictures and insight of this amazing place :) !

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Thanks Wolfie! ;)

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Oh wow! Some of these photos are just so amazing. The beam of light hitting the stone floors, the medieval view from the tunnel with the hills in the background and the natural hexegon shapes are so weird and wonderful and amazing.

Thanks for sharing so many incredible photos with us. I had no idea about any of this!

Thanks Ninja! It is an incredible nice nice place! Beside the fast iam not the nost religious person on earth, there i feel really the need to praying!

Hey @vickika, thanks for all your amazingly thoughtful posts on gFam. I honestly really super appreciate it.

I would love to give you a free Coil.com 2 month membership redeem code so you could also earn some lil micropayments for your posts as well... do you have IG or Twitter or something that I could DM that to you?

Thanks Adam indeed! I just don't know if I want to! There are already a lot of obligations and I'm afraid that maybe even my presence at Hive or gfam won't last long! So much for lack of time and interaction! Can I think about it and tell you if I change my mind?

Of course! The very last thing I'd want to do in the whole entire world is add extra stress into your life. I absolutely completely understand.

❤️ huge love for your understanding!

Huge love to you for sharing such incredibly thought-provoking posts on gFam. I love them so much.