Photoclubalpha

Hi

Here are some shots of Armenian churches which are located on high mountains and in ancient times these were protected by constructing them on mountains.

One can notice that in the first shot the church called "Tatev" is rounded by deep valleys by 3 sides and only in one side one can observe the walls from which in case of wars some tricks were done.

Very impressive. Good masonry work and nice-looking natural surroundings...especially the third looks very misty with the clouds in the background.

Thanks for sharing,

Yildiz

Armen, those shots are beautiful. 1 & 3 are my favorites. I must admit that Armenia had never been high on my places to visit list, but after seeing your photos, along with the Doc's...... It is moving much higher! John

All are good, but #3 is definitely my favorite! Makes me want to go there.

bakubo wrote:All are good, but #3 is definitely my favorite! Makes me want to go there.

And what are you waiting for bakubo??

I also like the third chuch the best and the road is through the very dense forests and mountains, it is really an interesting place. But the most photographic places are on the way of the first church

What always amazes me about earlier civilization periods is how tough people must have been back then, those buildings were most likely built before any form of industrial power was available, so everything was done by hand and domestic animals, and that's where I struggle a bit thinking of how hard it would be doing stone masonry on top of a mountain where it's a tough job just dragging yourself up there, let alone shaping/lifting/shifting heavy stone blocks as well...
Thanks for the look Armen, we don't have any really really old buildings in Oz so I find that sort of thing interesting...
Greg

Fascinating.

Hi Armen - great pictures. I really like #1, the way the buildings sit amongst the landscape (another green valley ). All of the churches are in beautiful situations.

Here are some other pictures of Armenian churches and the picture of temple called "Garni" from Gothic times before Christ.

One of the oldest chuches in Armenia is Odzun's church which has not been ruined by enemies,
7-th century.



Gegharc monastery was founded in the 4-th century and is mainly carved out from hard rocks of mountains.
From ancient times it is known that spear which had wounded Jesus at the Crucifixion, is kept in this area and geghard means spear



This is the only temple from Gothic times in Armenia which has been preserved,

Admirable..

They are all in good condition and very interesting.. I like them.
I suppose by Gothic you mean the Roman period or maybe something else? Gothic is a rather new style in architecture; Notre Dame in Paris can be represented by the style.

Yildiz

aster wrote:Admirable..

They are all in good condition and very interesting.. I like them.
I suppose by Gothic you mean the Roman period or maybe something else? Gothic is a rather new style in architecture; Notre Dame in Paris can be represented by the style.

Yildiz

By writing gothic I mean pagon times AD

Right!
I had mind that you meant that...


Yildiz

By the way most of the Armenian churches are controlled by UNESCO and they are considered as world's heritage

That last one looks Greek in style Armen, if so, was that something that was built after or during the time of Alexander the Great when he did his exploits/conquests I wonder?
Greg