All About Armenia
Yeremia Kyomurtchyan’s map of lake Van drawn in 1691 in Constantinople represents the lake and its four islands – Ktuts, Lim, Akhtamar, and Arter. Main churches and shrines of each island are marked on the map as well, supplemented with their brief descriptions, which have been written in a way similar to the one of …
The fermented milk product “Narine” was invented in 1964 by meritorious inventor of the Armenian SSR, professor Levon Erznkyan, and his wife Parandzem Sarukhanyan, Doctor of Biological Sciences. The idea of the product’s creation arose after the birth of their granddaughter Narine. Since scientists studied acidophilic bacteria, they took the girl’s meconium (earliest stool of …
Rare ancient mosaics, dated supposedly at the 1st century BC, have been discovered in the province of Şanlıurfa (the former Armenian city of Urfa) in southeastern Turkey. Archaeologists have unearthed five mosaics of the time of the Armenian king Abgar V, who was a king of Armenian Mesopotamia (4 BC – 7 AD) and the …
Teishebaini (modern Karmir Blur (Armenian: Կարմիր Բլուր, English: Red Hill), referring more to the hill that the fortress is located upon) was the capital of the Transcaucasian provinces of the ancient kingdom of Urartu. It is located near the modern city of Yerevan in Armenia. The site was once a fortress and governmental centre with …
At the very beginning of the 17th century, an alchemist named Avedis created a special alloy of metals that produced noises, which were then not only used in creation of excellent music, but, for example, frightened enemies in battles. The Ottoman Sultan Osman II christened Avedis the surname “Zildjian” (from the Turkish word zil – …
Watches of Turkish watch manufacturer Serkisof Demiryolu were quite popular in the Ottoman Empire between the end of 19th century and the beginning of 20th century. The founder of the company was Armenian-Turkish jeweler Serkisof (Armenian: Սարգիսով), who established Serkisof Demiryolu in 1880. Customers of his company were high-ranked officials and statesmen of the Ottoman …
Not many people know about the village of Ltsen in Syunik province, Armenia. It is located on the top of mountains and is surrounded by rocky hills, a dense forest, a waterfall, and partly deserted terrain. The name Ltsen (Armenian: Լծեն) comes from the word ltse (Armenian: լցե, throw, cast in local Armenian dialect). In …
A monument of ancient culture has been discovered during an expedition of youth movement “Trans-Baikal Geoarchaeology” of Russian Geographical Society. Near town of Stepanavan, Lori province, Armenia, archaeologists have discovered a structure of approximately 2 million years of age. The find has been named Yagdan (Russian: Ягдан). It resembles archaic tools and weapons such as …
A resident of the village Arinj built an underground temple under his own house, height of which reaches one of 7-storey buildings. “Amazing! Terrific! Incredible! ” – in different languages foreign tourists exclaim. “How could we not know about this before?” Armenians and their compatriots express their amazement. Every time the same words of astonishment …
Near the village Nor Karmiravan, Martakert province, Republic of Artsakh, 3 thousand years old anthropomorphic steles have been discovered. They are considered one of the most significant finds belonging to the pre-Christian Armenian culture. According to archaeologists, stone sculptures similar to these steles can be found only in Artsakh’s region. The steles are separated into three …
Anthropologists, scientists and independent researchers have been discovering remains of tall people in the mountains of Armenia for many years. Today, residents of many villages of Armenia are convinced that there have been entire cities of giants in the distant past. Numerous tombs found in Gyumri, Lchashen, Khot, Yeghvard, Goshavank, Ohanavan, and other settlements might …
Who is the king who has the most number of operas dedicated to him? Curiously enough, that king is Tigranes the Great, King of the Kingdom of Armenia in 95-55 BC. There are 23 operas about him in total, written by known European composers. This might be good news for lovers of music and opera …
Armenian language and its alphabet are unbelievably diverse. You can often see how Armenian names lose their simplicity after being translated to other languages because some letters of the alphabet need to be replaced with multiple characters for the transliteration to represent the characters of the original as closely as possible. For comparison, English alphabet, …
For several years archaeologists of Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of National Academy of Sciences of Republic of Armenia have conducted excavations near the settlements of the Ararat plain in collaboration with American research group. Their searches have resulted in the discovery of unusual building, dated back to III-II millenniums BC. The construction resembles the …
In the video below the author, candidate of historical sciences Artak Movsisyan tells about the period of the history of Armenia covering the coming to power of Parthian dynasty Arshakuni as well as its fall. Particular attention is given to the period that preceded the Avarayr battle. According to the author, the study of history …
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519), more commonly Leonardo da Vinci or simply Leonardo, was an Italian polymath whose areas of interest included invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography. He has been variously called the father of …
American researcher and historian Robert Drews in his book The Coming of the Greeks: Indo-European Conquests in the Aegean Sea and the Near East wrote, that the Greek civilization or its “prototype” indeed came out of the cradle of the civilization of the Armenian Highlands. Initially they settled in central and western Asia Minor, namely …
About a year ago the Russian audience was given an opportunity to witness more than 160 unique Armenian showpieces in the State Historical Museum of Russia. The exhibits had been transferred to the museum from the History Museum of Armenia, Etchmiadzin Cathedral Museum, and the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts (Matenadaran). Introduced exhibits have …