May 22, 2012
Today we went to the school of Khachadour Apovian in Shoushi. We met the fifth graders there, and became friends with each other. We sang and recited poems for the fifth graders there. They also sang and recited poems for us too. Then, we gave each other telephone numbers and addresses, so we could keep in touch with each other.
Then, we walked to the church called Sourp Amenapergich. The church was built in 1868. The church had held manuscripts in hermit rooms under the alter. This church has been a weapon storage for the Azeris, until 1992 when Shoushi became liberated by Armenian freedom fighters. We visited a room under the church, that when you stand in the center of the room and say something looking up, the words will echo through the room. When we left the church, it started to hail on us very badly. The hail was very big and hard. We managed to reach the bus in the hail and rain. When we went in the bus, we sat down and went to the Shoushi Grand Hotel, to eat lunch. When we finished eating lunch, we went to Amaras.
Amaras is one of the oldest churches in Armenia. Amaras has been destroyed several times and has finally been rebuilt in 1858. Amaras was also the first and oldest Armenian school. The school part of Amaras was built by Mesrob Mashdots. Gregory the Illuminator had started building the church part of Amaras. He passed away before he could complete the church, but his nephew, Grigoris continued to build the church after Gregory the Illuminator’s death. Later on, Grigoris completed the church. We went inside the church and saw Grigoris’ sepulcher.
Then we lit a candle and went to the school part of Amaras. It looked very old .We saw the letters that Mesrob Mashdots wrote on the roof for the students he was teaching Armenian to. When we finished looking at everything at Amaras, we went back in the bus to go eat dinner. We arrived at the restaurant for dinner. When we finished eating our dinner, we went in the bus, to go to the Shoushi Grand Hotel. We went in the hotel, and went to sleep for the next day.
By Narek Sahakian