Traveling around Armenia by car, we specially stopped in the city of Ashtarak to see its main attraction - one of the oldest preserved Armenian churches - Karmravor. Translated from Armenian, it means "reddish". It is believed that the name originated due to the color of the tiles. It was founded in the 7th century by the priests Grigor and Manas. The church is small, cruciform in shape with carved cornices, an octagonal drum and the only one that has an ancient tiled roof. According to an old legend, three sisters living in Ashtarak fell in love with a young man named Sarkis. The older two sisters decide to die, sacrificing themselves for the younger one. One of them put on an apricot-colored dress, the other a red one, and rushed into the gorge. Upon learning about this, the younger sister, wearing a white dress, also rushed into the gorge, and Sarkis became a hermit out of grief. And three churches appeared on the edge of the cliff - Spitakavor (whitish), Karmravor (reddish) and Tsiranavor (apricot).

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Areg Grigoryan

Level 10 Local Expert

Small, but very cute. Be sure to visit.

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Karmravor Church

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