Garni
Armenia · Kotayk · 1400 m
Description
Garni (Գառնի) holds the only Greco-Roman colonnaded building left standing anywhere in the former Soviet Union, a first century temple on a promontory over the Azat gorge that survived because an Armenian king kept it as a summer house after the country turned Christian. An earthquake brought it down in 1679 and it was rebuilt from its own fallen stones in the nineteen seventies. Below the temple the gorge wall is a cliff of hexagonal basalt columns called the “Symphony of Stones”, and five kilometres up the valley Geghard monastery is carved directly into the rock face.
Length of stay
Recommended length of stay: 1 day
Travel season
Best time to visit: April – June or September – October
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Highlights
- Geghard rock-cut monastery (UNESCO World Heritage)
- Garni Temple over the Azat gorge
- Symphony of Stones basalt columns
- Roman bath mosaic beside the temple
- Sharakan chant sung in the Geghard rock chamber
- Lavash baking in the village tonir ovens
- Azat gorge walk below the cliffs
- Khachkar wall and the spring above Geghard
- Havuts Tar monastery ruins across the gorge(Day trip)