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Armenia Dispatch 16: Road Trip Part 4 (Haghpat)
But I'll not bore you with all the historical details. The links here can do that. Suffice to say, we saw Sanahin monastery (woodsy, nice, lots of cross carvings), the Odzun monastery (high atop a mountain, lovely view, fresh air, more, uh, cross carvings), and finally the Haghpat monastery, easily the best of the bunch, as it is laid out on a grassy plateau with a view of the entire valley below. The buildings themselves here are magnificent examples of the classic Armenian monastery style...round tower, conical roof...and the setting is like something out of a EM Forester novel.
If I have one complaint...actually, you might call this more of a screaming rage, it is the presence, right in your immediate view from the monastery, of an unsightly, working copper factory that rumbles and booms and spews an impossibly long tail of industrial cottonous filth into the sky. Thankfully, the wind was blowing in the direction away from the monastery...but man, the vision of this behemoth from the monastery grounds is a real downer. That said, as the picture of Haghpat here attests, it's a lovely place.
Filed under: Arts and Culture, History, Learning, Festivals and Events, Blogs, Stories, Asia, Armenia
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Vazrik Abramian Dec 18th 2005 5:08PM
Thank you very much for your nice comments on Armnia, you are welcome to our shop at:
Nalbandian str., no 106, between Toumanian & Sayat Nova streets.
We are specialty shop for Nuts, Dried fruits (especially Armenian apricot) & confectionary.
Best regards
V. Abramian
Evik llc
Managing Director