The Lands Between - Armenia and Georgia

Before this trip, I had visited eleven of the fifteen republics of the former Soviet Union. This trip added Armenia and Georgia to that count (only Tajikistan and Turkmenistan remain). Both are small nations (each with about four million people, each about the size of the US state of Maryland). As I’ve traveled widely in most of the surrounding nations, there is much that is familiar here. They share with Russia the Soviet past and an Orthodox Christian heritage. They share with their neighbors to the West and South a significant influence of the Persian Empire and broad connection to the greater Middle East. History here runs deep. 

The Geghard Monastery is about an hour east of Yerevan in a deep gorge, surrounded by mountains. It was founded by St. Gregory the Illuminator in the fourth century and some of the buildings date to the sixth century. The mountains are riddled with caves carved by monks over the centuries. 

The Garni Temple was built in the first century AD by a local prince. It represents the Greco-Roman culture that penetrated Armenia and points farther east in this time. 

Mt. Ararat (big Ararat and little Ararat) dominate the skyline of central Armenia. They peaks are actually in Turkey today. Armenians once lived all around Ararat and deep into what is now Turkey. These communities were destroyed at the end of World War I.

The Cathedral of Etchmiadzin is the equivalent of the Vatican for the Armenian Apostolic Church. Parts of this cathedral date to the early fourth century and are built on the site of an earlier pagan temple. 

A medieval Armenian illustrated Bible. The Matenadaran in Yerevan collects tens of thousands of these manuscripts, some dating to the 6th-7th century. 

The Sevan peninsula juts into Lake Sevan, one of the three 'great lakes' of historical Armenia. The 'newer' churches in the background were built long after the church whose foundations are visible in the foreground. This older church represents one of the oldest churches in the world, dating to the first decade of the fourth century. 

The city of Uplistsiche near Gori in Georgia dates to the second century BC and was composed mostly of buildings carved into the soft rock. 

The city of Mtskheta is about 20 kilometers north of modern Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. It was the capital of Georgia until the fifth century ad remains home to some of the finest ancient Georgian architecture. 

The Metekhi church (13th century) sits high above the Mtkhvari River that forms the backbone of Tbilisi.