St. Stephen's Armenian School

June 2, 2010

This is our last day in Armenia and we are very sad that we will be leaving tomorrow, therefore, we decided to enjoy every second that we have left in our homeland.

It was a beautiful, sunny and hot (36 degrees Celsius) day in Yerevan today. This morning we started our day by visiting the RA Ministry of Diaspora which was located right in the Republic Square only a few blocks from our hotel. They were very happy to see us. We sang a song for them and took lots of pictures with the Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hagopian. Stepan Bedrosian, who was the deputy minister of Diaspora greeted us, spent some time explaining the “Ari Tun” program and gave us a hat and a t-shirt which reads “Ari Tun” on them in red, blue and orange. We then went to Mrs. Hagopian’s office where she shared a new Armenian song with us and told us to make sure we learn that song so we can sing it next time we come back to Armenia.
Read the rest of this entry »

June 1, 2010

Today we went to Lori region. There were beautiful mountains, canyons, forests and its famous river Tebed. Lori is a region of Armenia very close to the border of Georgia. On the way to Lori we went through the town of Spidag which had suffered from the huge earthquake on December 7th, 1988. During the earthquake 25,000 people died. After the earthquake there was a new church that was built in Spidag. A rich man who owns many casinos in Las Vegas sent one-million dollars to help rebuild the city. Lori is the most beautiful region in Armenia. All of the houses had red roofs.
Read the rest of this entry »

May 31, 2010

Today, day 11, we visited Alexander Tamanyan’s statue. Alexander Tamanyan was the architect of Yerevan. He was born in Russia and came to Armenia in the early 1920’s when Armenia was under the control of the Soviet Union. He drew the blueprint of the city of Yerevan for 125,000 inhabitants. However, the city grew to over one million people and they had to build more housing on the outskirts of the city. Yerevan was made up of 3 parts. The Republic Square, the universities and the industrial parts. In order to connect the lower and upper parts of the city Tamanyan designed the “Cascades” which is a series of steps made of white doof stone and has 4 museums on 4 different levels. The first museum is Khanjyan Hall, the second museum is called Sasountsi Davit Garden Hall, the third is the Eagle Hall and the 4th museum is Eagle Garden Hall. The Cascades is a beautiful structure made up of 465 steps on the highest level of which overlooks the entire city. To honor Alexander Tamanyan, the Armenian government decided to build a statue for him. The statue was designed by Ardashes Hovsepian, were Tamanyan is leaning over a desk and looking at his blueprints of Yerevan. Yerevan is 2,792 years old. Every year the Armenians celebrate the anniversary of the city by coming together and singing, dancing and sharing food.
Read the rest of this entry »

May 30, 2010

Today is Sunday May 30. This morning on our way to Garni we saw the statues of Hayk Nahabed and Vahagen choking a dragon. We arrived in Garni, which is one of the biggest and oldest village in Hayastan. The gate at Garni was locked so Mariam, our guide, had the gates opened for us.

Garni was originally a Pagan temple built in 77 B.C. It was built on top of a hill surrounded on two sides by gorges and one side had a fortress wall. The walls were 6 feet thick by 60 feet high. It also had 14 towers built into the wall. We saw lots of mountains and rivers that ran through the gorges. The temple was built using steel spikes and lead without any cement. Inside there was a hole in the middle and a temple in the back side of the small hall. We saw a man playing a duduk there also.
Read the rest of this entry »

May 29, 2010

Today we woke up at 8:30. First we went to Yeraploor, the cemetary of fallen heroes. At 951 meters it is compared to the Parthenon in Greece. It was built in the 1990s and is the resting place of many heroes including General Antranig and Sosse Maireeg. There were six girls that died and the youngest was a 14 year old boy.

The Armenians would use hunting rifles while the Azeris were using AK 47s. One fighter named Monte Melkonian wanted to be buried there so he could see Mt. Ararat. 1919 soldiers were buried there while 520 are unaccounted for. The Azeris claim there are no prisoners.
Read the rest of this entry »

May 28, 2010

Today is an important day in Armenian history (all around the world). We went to the monument of Sardarabad where the battle happened on May 28, 1918.
The monument was built based on the famous battle on May 26, 1918, and the magnificent architectural edifices proclaimed the victory of the battle. There was a major engagement at Sardarabad where the Armenians defeated the Turkish Army. The statues of the ancient bulls, walls, eagles and the Bell Tower monument which were constructed in 1968 is a pilgrim’s shrine to Armenians throughout the world. The entrance to the park is flanked by huge winged oxen made of red tuff. A flight of steps leads to a square from where a 35-meter high bell tower rises. The beautiful trellis structure with its twelve bells can be seen from afar. The bells ring every year on the day of the historic victory. A lane of eagles, symbolizing the spirit of the fearless fighting men, leads to a curved Wall of Victory, with scenes of the battle, and the figure of a woman with a child, signifies a symbol of revival. The complex was designed by the architect Rafael Israelyan.
Read the rest of this entry »

May 27, 2010

Today we left the Artsakh Hotel Armenia. We drove two hours to Lachin where we planted 17 walnut trees. When planting the trees, it was hard to take the tree roots out of the bags and some people ripped the trees out of the bags. We also saw trees that were planted last year. It was a wonderful experience planting trees in Lachin, knowing that we were creating memories and helping the environment and the Artsakh people.
Read the rest of this entry »

May 26, 2010

Today we woke up at 7:30 am and went for breakfast at 8:30. After breakfast some of the kids went on the computer for a few minutes to check their e-mails and look at the blog before heading to the monastery of Gandzasar.

Gandzasar is a very big church with a lot of stone crosses. It is located in the Northern part of Artsakh. The church was built in 1238 (13th century). The stone crosses were created before the church was built and are placed on one side of the church. Our tour guide (Maryam) said that there is only one stone cross in Armenia with the design of sun on it and it is located in Gandzasar.

Artsakh has 6 regions: Martouni, Shahoumian, Martakert, Askeran, Shushi and Hadrout. There are many vegetables (tomatoes, cucamber, herbs) and fruits (apple, mulberry, walnut, quince, cherries) that are grown in Artsakh. After lighting candles, and listening to the tour guide, we took lot of group and family pictures and then went to the souvenir shop.
Read the rest of this entry »

May 25, 2010

We traveled to Amaras to see the site of the first Armenian school. The school was founded by Mesrob Mashdots, who invented the Armenian alphabet. At the site of the school, there is a monastery built in the 4th century by St. Greogoris, who is now buried underneath the monastery. Amaras monastery, was destroyed by the Mongols, Turks, and Azeris. On the ceiling of the school, Mesrob Mashdots wrote the
APC because when the students were tired, their heads would fall back, and they would see the Armenian alphabet.
Read the rest of this entry »

May 24, 2010

Today is day 4 of our journey in our homeland. Today’s trip took us from one end of Armenia to the other and ended in Arstakh. On our way to Khor Virab Monastery, we started to notice the great peaks of Mt. Ararat through the trees and bushes. Everyone became extremely anxious, grabbed their cameras and started taking pictures. Finally, the bus stopped at the parking lot of the church (Park-Astudzo), we ran out of the bus, up the hill to the area where it’s the closest spot to see Mt. Ararat from Armenia, took more pictures, then started heading into the monastery. We learned the story of St Gregory the Illuminator and how he was imprisoned in a hole for 13 years with no light. It was our turn to go down the hole. All the students and most of the parents took the 27 (thanks for counting Lenna) wobbly metal steps down to the dark dungeon. Many of us lit candles and prayed. After heading up the same 27 stairs it was back to the bus and on to Noravank, the 13th century monastery.
Read the rest of this entry »

May 23, 2010

Today was our first exciting day sightseeing!
We woke up at 8:00 am, had a delicious breakfast at 9:00 am, and got on the bus at 10:00 am. We had to wait for some people and finally hit the road at 10:10. We were going to go to The Mother Cathedral of Echmiadzin built in 301-303; the oldest Armenian church. On the way to Echmiadzin, we saw the statue of Mousa Ler, we saw Ararat and Arakadz.
When we got to Echmiadzin, the first real sight was the beautiful open Alter. Later, we went behind the church and saw one of the Armenian Genocide Memorials. After that we heard the sweet bells of Echmidzin ringing, and saw the Gatorigos and his Processionals walking toward the Cathedral. Then we took part in the mass for 15-20 minutes.
Read the rest of this entry »

May 22, 2010

Once we flew in to Paris we had to go threw security since that took about a half hour we had about six and a half hour to kill. After we had eaten we decided to take a look around. The airport in Paris was really cool and a lot bigger then Logan and it even had a Play Station area. Most of the time we played there. Before we bordered the plane we sat in the gate for about fifteen minutes. It was really cool because we got to sing for people we recite poems.
Once we were on the plane and took off we were so excited that we were going to finely go to Armenia. By the first half hour most of us were already asleep, but a hour before we were about to land we all woke up. But the coolest thing of all was that there was a famous Armenian actor singer on our flight.
A few minutes before we landed we think we saw Mount Ararat and took plenty of pictures. When we landed, we were all very excited that we landed in Armenia.
Off to Etchmiadzin tomorrow.

By Garine Minassian