Garni

Garni (Armenian: Գառնի), is a major village in the Kotayk Province of Armenia. It is known for the nearby classical temple. As of the 2011 census, the population of the village is 6,910.

History

The settlement has an ancient history, and is best known for the Hellenistic Garni temple. The area was first occupied in the 3rd millennium BC along easily defensible terrain at one of the bends of the Azat River. In the 8th century BC the area was conquered by the Urartian King Argishti I. The fortification at Garni was erected probably sometime in the 3rd century BC as a summer residence for the Armenian Orontid and Artaxiad royal dynasties. Later around the 1st century BC the fortress of Garni became the last refuge of King Mithridates of Armenia and where he and his family were assassinated by his son-in-law and nephew Rhadamistus. The fortress was eventually sacked in 1386 by Timur Lenk. In 1679 an earthquake devastated the area destroying the temple.

Monuments and landmarks

Garni is notable for its fortress complex with the 1st-century AD Garni Temple, Surb Astvatsatsin Church, Mashtots Hayrapet Church, a ruined 4th-century single-aisle church, a ruined Tukh Manuk Shrine, Saint Sargis Shrine, and a Queen Katranide Shrine.

Temple of Garni

The Temple of Garni (Armenian: Գառնիի հեթանոսական տաճար, Gařnii het’anosakan tačar, lit. "pagan temple of Garni") is a classical Hellenistic temple in Garni, Armenia. Reconstructed in the 1970s, it is the only known Greco-Roman colonnaded temple in Armenia.

It is perhaps the best-known structure and symbol of pre-Christian Armenia. It was probably built by king Tiridates I in the first century AD as a temple to the sun god Mihr. After Armenia's conversion to Christianity in the early fourth century, it was converted into a royal summer house of Khosrovidukht, the sister of Tiridates III. According to some scholars it was not a temple but a tomb and thus survived the universal destruction of pagan structures. It collapsed in a 1679 earthquake. Renewed interest in the 19th century led to its eventual reconstruction between 1969 and 1975. It is one of the main tourist attractions in Armenia and the central shrine of Armenian neopaganism.

Location

The temple is situated at the edge of a triangular cliff and is part of the fortress of Garni (Armenian: Գառնիի ամրոց, Gařnii amrots or Գառնու ամրոց, Gařnu amrots). One of the oldest fortresses in Armenia, it is mentioned as Gorneas in the first-century Annals of Tacitus. The site is located near the village of Garni, in Armenia's Kotayk Province and is officially known as the Garni Historical and Cultural Museum Reserve (Armenian: «Գառնի» պատմա-մշակութային արգելոց-թանգարան), which includes the temple, a bath complex, a royal summer palace, the seventh century church of St. Sion and other minor items (e.g. medieval khachkars). In total, the list of intangible historical and cultural monuments approved by the government of Armenia includes 11 items. It occupies 3.5 hectares and is supervised by the Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum Reservations, an agency attached to the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Armenia.