When I walked into Garni Temple’s Cella one October morning there was a 2,000-year-old UNESCO-listed duduk performance taking place inside the stone confines to the unbridled joy of a rapt audience. Once the show was over, I somehow managed to get the temple all to myself for a few long moments.
Garni Temple is the only one of its kind in all of Armenia and [now defunct] Soviet Union. The fact that it still stands—a rare pagan Greco-Roman remnant in the world’s first Christian country despite wars, religious upmanship, atheism, and even an earthquake—is a miracle.
Two thousand years old, scholars differ on its exact purpose and age. Is it a temple to the Zoroastrian sun god Mihr built in 77 AD by the Romanized Armenian King Tiridates I or a Roman tomb of the 2nd Century? Either way, its soaring 24 basalt Ionic columns reaching out to a ceiling draped in reliefs of grapes and vine leaves, perched above nine 12-inch-high steps is an evocative magnificent otherworldly sight.
Seated on the stone floor by the empty altar, it was just me and the echoes of those who had passed through the sanctuary two millennia ago. And that remote yesterday from the distant annals of time, briefly became my today.
Welcome to my Armenia series, dear Reader. ❤
rama toshi arya's blog 
Surprise, I was there two days ago, and there were many more people!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, there were also very many people the day I visited it. I was just lucky to have the Cella and parts of the temple to myself in-between the waves of busloads of tourists. 😄 If you still in Armenia, may I suggest you visit the Sergei Parajanov museum. It is fabulous. Eclectic and completely unique artworks. Mainly collages.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I saved museums for rainy days, but it only rained on Monday, when museums are closed.
LikeLike
Maybe another time then. 🙂 I really liked Yerevan’s museums. They are mainly specialist museums, hence gave me the opportunity to understand specific areas of Armenian heritage in some depth.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We were just in Armenia this summer and will also be posting about it soon. When were you there?
LikeLiked by 1 person
29th September to 10th October. Such a beautiful country!
LikeLike
We were there for the month of August so we just missed each other.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I look forward to reading your posts on Armenia. It is always nice to see how someone else sees what one has seen. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
We really enjoyed the historic sites, but the country is still quite depressed, making independent travel quite difficult.
LikeLike
True. I took day tours to the further out monasteries. It was the only practical way to reach them. But, oh so worth it. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person