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WEATHER LOVELY, WISH YOU WERE HERE…

Welcome to ArmeniaNow’s second special edition on tourism in
Armenia. We hope you enjoyed the first instalment and are ready for
more summer adventures in the land that claims Noah as its first
official visitor.

This week, immerse yourself in places steeped in Armenian culture and
history, some already popular stops on the tourist trail, others whose
attractions await discovery and where a warm welcome rewards the
adventurous.

Join us in Kapan, a region where monuments guard their secrets and
ancient fortresses lie hidden in dense forests. Or take a trip to
Ijevan and discover caves preserving ancient carvings of man and
nature.

Meet remarkable people such as the man who has devoted decades to
carving caves out of the rock under his home, and the woman whose
fascination with Japan is establishing ties of friendship between two
ancient cultures.

Feeling sporty? Then don’t miss our guide to entertaining
activities. And if you have an eye for fashions, read about the
influence of traditional Armenian dress on street styles in Yerevan.

We asked some of the many tourists already in Armenia to share their
impressions. We hope you find plenty of reasons in this week’s edition
to join them.

The Editors

NATURE’S FORTRESS: THE DARK BEAUTY OF THE FORESTS OF SHIKAHOGH

By Vahan Ishkhanyan
ArmeniaNow Reporter

The road leading to the village of Tsav, the Shikahogh reserve, the
Sycamore grove, and Mtnadzor passes through the forest of Krnas 40
kilometers to the south of Kapan.

Eighty years ago, Axel Bakunts wrote a story that he entitled
`Mtnadzor’, which begins: `The only path leading to Mtnadzor is closed
after the first snowfall and no one can pass through the forests until
spring. However, even today there are dense forests in Mtnadzor where
the foot of man has never trod.Trees fall and rot, a new tree grows
instead of the fallen one, bears dance whistling like shepherds,
wolves howl with their muzzles turned to the moon, wild boars dig
black soil with their tusks picking up last autumn’s rotten acorns.’

Little has changed since then, only the fauna has become
scarcer. Villagers tell that during the years of the Karabakh war
freedom-fighters would hunt with submachine-guns and open fire on wild
boars, killing several at a time. Now the Shikahogh reserve, which
also includes the Mtnadzor forest, is under stricter control and its
director Ruben Lazarian says that seven poachers were caught in
recent months.

The Red Book of protected species in the reserve includes Caucasian
gray bears, wolves, foxes, porcupines, wild boars, deer, forest cats,
and 27 species of birds. Nevertheless, the decoration of Shikahogh is
considered to be the Middle Eastern leopard. Photographs and other
studies show that there are a couple of leopards which have given
birth to two cubs.

Many people know the `Mtnadzor’ story from school textbooks and
remember how a bear skinned hunter Avi’s skull: `He felt a heavy blow
on his back, a fleecy paw had clawed a hold of the skin on the back of
his head.’ In the next passage Bakunts writes: `Avi is still
alive. One can see him with horror when hiding from the passers-by in
a corner, he makes moccasins for one or another. Avi wears a chukha
(robe), moccasins, has an ordinary body and healthy hands, which very
skillfully pierce hide, make knots from leather threads. And on an
ordinary body instead of a head here is a human skull, totally
skinned, without hair, without skin.’

Avi was Shikahogh villager Gabriel Dayi (Uncle Gabriel), who died in
1944. Even now, the villagers remember him: `He lived with a sack on
his head and made moccasins,’ says Lazarian, who lives in
Shikahogh. `He was a very strong person. An ox had fallen into a
tonir, several people could not get it out, but Gabriel came and
dragged it out by the horns.’

The forest got the name of Mtnadzor because it practically sees no
daylight. Bakunts writes: `The hills of Mtnadzor are high – it is
because of them that during long summer days the sun gives light to
the Mtnadzor forest only for several hours. And when the sun still
turns to the west in the remote plain, the shadows in Mtnadzor become
dense, it is pitch dark under the foliage, bears go hunting, wild
boars come down to drink water, a wolf howls shrilly in front of its
lair, the howl echoes across Mtnadzor in thousands of voices.’

Mtnadzor, which is located on a 40-degree hillside, is also today a
dense forest, undevoured by the energy crisis of the early 1990s in
Armenia. `Mtnadzor differs from other forests by the fact that man
visits it very rarely, there are impassable places,’ says forest-guard
Andranik Abelyan from the village of Tsav.

The government had approved a plan to build a 17-kilometer-long and
30-meter-wide highway over Mtnadzor towards Meghri. The project
required the felling of 145,000 trees and could cause the
disappearance of several species of birds nesting in Mtnadzor. People
in Kapan were sure that the goal of building the road was to get the
timber, especially oak, which is one of the most expensive types of
wood. If they cut the forest, the oak would mostly go for export,
while some would be taken by local wineries to make brandy barrels.

The reserve’s director Lazarian opposed the project, saying: `I will
do everything to scuttle plans for the road construction.’ He says
that recentlu he had shown a number of ministers Mtnadzor from a
helicopter to try to convince them that the project will be too
destructive.

Thanks to the campaign launched by environment-protection groups and
Syunik authorities against the government plan, the rout of the road
was changed.

Numerous monuments of nature and history are hidden in
Shikahogh. Lazarian guides tourists to them with great enthusiasm.

Sycamore grove, which is protected, begins from Mtnadzor. It is unique
in the South Caucasus, since very few sycamores have been preserved in
their natural condition. The trees of the 60-hectare grove stretching
along the ravine are 800- 1,000 years old, and are matched by similar
trees on territory seized from Azerbaijan.

It is not known how the grove emerged, though the scientific
explanation is that it is the residual remains of a much larger
sycamore forest. The popular version of its history relates that
caravans from Persia took a rest on the bank of the river and people
planted sticks here, from which the forest grew (a sycamore takes root
very easily and a tree may grow after a branch is planted into
soil). A sycamore has a light-colored trunk and in these territories
leaders of mule caravans planted sycamores near mountainous and forest
springs so that they could see water sources from a distance. Probably
this formed the basis of the popular version of the origin of the
grove.

In pagan times, the sycamore was a sacred tree. The rustle and
movement of sycamore foliage was used in fortune- telling. The trees
near the Opera House in Yerevan and along the streets and in orchards
of Kapan were planted with saplings from the sycamore grove.

Derenik Hovhannisyan from the village of Hand has established sycamore
arboretums. Saplings are sold at a higher price than fruit-bearing
seedlings – 1,200 drams (more than $2.50) each – and in five years
Derenik has sold 2,500. Sycamore is one of the most suitable trees for
planting green areas because it has a large green mass, long life and
does not break.

Today, Sycamore grove is facing the threat of disappearance, as the
natural reproduction of the forest has slowed down. Derenik says that
10-12 trees collapse every year. There were 2,500 trees in the grove
in the 1960s, now only some 1,800 remain.

`If it continues like this, in 30 years’ time the grove will
disappear,’ says Derenik. `I am trying to find partners to enlarge the
grove by 20 hectares, and we will plant new trees in place of the
fallen ones.’

The river Tsav (Basuta) passes through the grove and Bakunts wrote it
in his `Cyclamen’ story, saying: `The river Basuta makes noise only in
the ravine, scrapes the banks and polishes the blue quartz of the
riverbed. The river Basuta rolls in its narrow riverbed, it seems that
thousands of hounds are howling under its white foam gnawing stone
chains.’

The village of Shikahogh, first recorded in the 13th Century, is
surrounded with numerous medieval monuments and cemeteries.

East of Kapan’s Halidzor district, there is the Halidzor monastery and
fortress on a steep hill. Although visible from Kapan, a closer look
at the structures reveals that the forest has already started to
conquer them.

Taxi reaches by an earth road the foot of Halidzor, from where there
is a path of about 100 feet to the buildings. The monastery was built
in the 17th Century and in the 18th Century it became the main
stronghold of David Bek’s liberation struggle. In 1725, the battle of
Halidzor took place here during which Armenians were besieged in the
fortress for seven days, before breaking out and routing the Turkish
army.

The building has numerous secrets, such as underground passes to the
water spring. Halidzor’s closest resident, Serzhik Alexanyan, has been
linked with it since the day of his birth.

`A hundred meters up from the spring there is a tunnel , now it is
covered,’ says Alexanyan. `We were little kids, picking up khazaz (a
garlic-like plant), and we saw the pit, walked a few meters, then were
frightened and ran away. It was in the `60s, once we were coming down
on donkeys and a donkey’s foot stuck and we saw an underground
path. It seems to me that the path was used for coming from the
fortress and taking water. It runs for 500 meters, but now it is
ruined in places.’

He says that when he was kept guard on the territory, he cleaned up
the surroundings and put a door on the monastery so that cattle would
not go inside. There is no door now and cows find shelter inside the
monastery.

Several kilometers to the west from Halidzor is Baghaberd. The ruins
of Baghaberd’s walls come to the edge of the road in places and in
others reach the top of the mountain. At some points, the walls yield
to natural barriers of rock. Built in the 4th Century, it is one of
the oldest buildings of the territory and one of the largest defensive
constructions in Armenia. The walls stand 6-8 meters in height.

Behind these walls, Syunik’s prince Andovk Syuni defeated the army of
the Persian King Shapuh. In 1170, the Seljuks conquered the fortress,
massacred the residents and burned 10,000 manuscripts. The destruction
of Baghaberd put an end to the Syunik Kingdom.

Between Baghaberd and Halidzor there is Vahanavank monastery, in a
forest under a vertical mountain. It was built in 911 by the son of
the Syunik prince Vahan. The main church of the monastery now lies in
ruins. During Soviet years there were plans to rebuild the church, but
the effort was left half finished. The two-storied crypt-church built
by the Syunik Queen Shahandukht remains standing. There is a similar
building in another place in Syunik – Tatev.

In the center of all these monuments and ravines is Kapan, which
stretches along the gorge of the river Voghjy and lets through itself
rivulets descending from the mountains. Tourists can find four hotels
(with rooms from $5 to $70) and several restaurants. Last year, a
tourism development center opened at the town’s municipality with
USAID funding. The head of the center Armen Movsisyan can organize
tent trips around Kapan.

For further information about Kapan contact the Tourism and Business
Centre of the Municipality of Kapan at (+374 91) 33 22 83, (+374 285)
226 66, armen.m_61@rambler.ru

INSIDE IJEVAN: VILLAGERS OFFER VISITORS A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

By Suren Deheryan
ArmeniaNow Reporter

The sport watch on Ashot Levonyan’s wrist indicated 1495, the height
above sea level of the hill near the village of Yenokavan where the
tour guide was making final preparations with a group of tourists for
a long hiking trip through a forest-covered gorge.

The path leading to the gorge begins from this high hill called Gomer
or Isharats by Yenokavan’s villagers. There were Soviet-era communal
cattle-sheds here even before the notion of a tourism industry
penetrated these parts.

But it is already a year that this territory has been a tourist magnet
as a result of investments by the Moscow-based doctor Artak
Chibukhchyan, a native of the village. The cattle-sheds have been
turned into stables and surrounded by wooden chalets, tents, a
bathhouse and toilets. Tourists are offered several sight-seeing tours
on horseback or on foot.

Chibukhchyan, who set up the Apaga Tour Company, decided to turn his
birthplace into a recreational area for those who prefer a healthy and
active holiday. Nature in these parts has generously created all of
the preconditions.

Yenokavan is situated in the north-east of Armenia, 10 kilometers from
the town of Ijevan. It is located at a height of 1,000-1,300 meters,
surrounded by hills, and close to a forest-covered gorge about 100
meters deep that ranges for about five kilometers.

The route of the expedition is through this gorge. Members of the
party are supplied with handmade sticks by the stable watchman Habek
Gabrielyan, walk in close file along the path and disappear into the
forest one after another.

Awaiting them ahead are caves, springs, inimitable sights and
waterfalls. The local forest is rich in wild fruit-trees and bushes,
among which are pear-trees, plum-trees, cornelian cherry, raspberry
and wild strawberry. Local villagers use them to make jams, juices and
vodka.

When Levonyan’s watch indicated a height of 1,430 meters, the
expedition stopped for a moment. The guide informed them that this was
one of the impassable parts of the gorge called Ishadzor or Eshi dzor
(Donkey’s Gorge), as one donkey carrying a heavy load once fell down
from here.

After a long descent the line of backpackers passes by springs, trees
that have collapsed and cracked from old age, multicolored flowers,
and through narrow boulder turns until they reach a cave called
Lastiver or Anapa. Its splendid views make the hikers forget their
hard journey for a moment.

The gorge of Yenokavan has several caves – from 10 to 30 meters long
and about 15 meters wide. According to Levonyan, people hid in these
caves from marauding Tartar-Mongol hordes during the 9th to 11th
Centuries.

The seal of mankind is put here on the walls of the cave – through
dozens of beautiful carvings that depict man and beast side by side as
well as images of large and small crosses. It is due to these crosses
that some people visit Lastiver today as a place of pilgrimage.

`People need such trips,’ says Levonyan. `They may seem tiring and
hard, but such immediate contact with nature cleans the negative
emotions from the body. In other words, just as a church is a place
for spiritual purity, nature is also very medicinal. When you walk
here, you establish mental contact with nature.’

Smoke slowly rises from a fire down by the cave. This is from a camp
which was not here even a month ago. It was set up by Vahagn and Tatul
Tananyans, young brothers from Ijevan who also aim to develop hiking
tourism here.

In spring they founded a tourist company with the symbolic name of
`Peace to the World’ and rented a space from Hayantar (Armenian Forest
Department) State CJS Company near the territory of the caves. They
built a camp near the river and now await their first visitors.

`We used to come to these forests for 10 years and it was our hobby,
we would bring our friends with us. Now we have decided to turn it
into a business, as many do not know about these places,’ says
27-year-old Vahagn.

`We haven’t yet seen the result of our efforts. We have agreements
with tourist companies to send tourists to us. Now we are waiting for
them. We are prepared to receive about 15 people.’

The camp is located near the river Khachaghbyur. It is a paradise for
those keen on wildlife. The whole camp consists of tables made of
pieces of dried trees, chairs, wooden wardrobes and tents. On the one
side there is a field kitchen, and on the other end, a little away, a
toilet. In the middle is the fire with a kettle of water boiling on
it.

Arman Gabrielyan, 21, a groom at the Chibukhchyan stables, also
accompanied the expedition. The young Yenokavan villager climbs back
up with Tarzan-like strides, while the tourists strain to keep up.

`I love these places,’ says Arman. `I come here all year round guiding
our visitors. Sometimes I serve as an example for tourists not to
avoid the difficult parts. For example, some Americans came once but
avoided bathing in the waterfall. I did, and only after that, making
sure that there was no danger, they also submerged themselves in the
water.’

The tour ends where it started – in Gomer where watchman Habek has
prepared a hot-water bath. Habek has kept a guestbook for a year
already and, before saying good-bye to his visitors, he asks them to
make an entry.

Among the memories is this from student Norayr Avanesyan: `I give my
thanks to nature that created such places where I can fly in my
thoughts, where my muse visits me. Here my thoughts come together and
create a song. Feeling freedom and the fragrance of nature here, you
don’t want to go back.’

Levonyan advises prospective visitors that a tour of several days is
needed to get acquainted with all the historical and cultural
monuments in the area (fortresses, churches, khachkars) and to see the
sights properly.

For further information about Ijevan contact the Apaga Tour at (+ 374
10) 57 03 28, (+374 91) 49 58 34,

ROCK AND SOUL: MAN WITH A MISSION CREATES AN UNDERGROUND MONUMENT

By Gayane Abrahamyan ArmeniaNow Reporter

If you wish to escape from the noisy routine of life, you need only
visit the village of Arinj, not far from Yerevan, and ask for Lyova
Arakelyan’s house.

Every single man here old or young will willingly accompany you to
this handmade unique cave of the 21st Century that has attracted
already the attentions of 40,000 visitors, not only from Armenia, but
also from the US, Poland, Germany, Iran, Japan, Israel and many other
countries.

Wonders lie on the other side of the gates to Arakelyan’s simple and
nondescript house. The gentle 64-year-old cave- maker with smiling
eyes opens the heavy iron handled door of his `temple’ and leads you
into an underground world of his own creation.

Stairs carved in the grey basalt lead down from our surface life to a
depth of 21 meters (equal to a 7-story building) and an underground
world. After 80 stairs you find yourself in a round hall with
decorated alcoves, then on to another room with columns, before
entering a hall that calls to mind the interior of a church.

Further and further into the cave the labyrinth of stairs carries you,
into six halls of this rocky engraved museum, each with its own unique
carvings.

Arakelyan, a construction worker by trade, never intended to dig under
his own house to create a cave church. He had been building homes for
25 years, when one day 20 years ago while in Russia, he says a phantom
came to him and said: `You have an important job to do, you will live
96 years and images will appear in your eyes during those years that
you need to repeat exactly.’

Then, in 1985, Arakelyan went down to the basement of his house to dig
a store for potatoes, as his wife Tosya Gharibyan had asked. It was a
request that radically changed their lives.

>From that moment, he became a zealous digger as if on some mission in
search of the Holy Grail. His fight is with rock that neighbors say is
impenetrable.

Arakelyan had dug just half a meter when he met the hard basalt on
which the whole village rests. Neighbors who reached it stopped
digging, but Arakelyan took the sound of the spade on stone as a call
to arms.

He took his sharpest cutter and a five kilogram hammer and, for
reasons perhaps unknown even to him, lunged at the rock. His aim was
to carve an underground museum.

`The stone was so hard that each time I hit it sparks lit my eyes,’ he
says. `Even working 17 hours a day I would hardly dig a hole more than
20cm in diameter and 7cm deep. But while working I got unnatural
strength, I do not know where from.’

Arakelyan dug for 10 years until he reached a layer of tufa that
obeyed his hammer more readily.

A spade, a cutter…a unique passion and the lonely zeal of a human. A
place for potatoes turned into a tourist attraction. This is Lyova
Arakelyan’s world.

`The most interesting thing is that Arakelyan works without any
electric instrument and he does it alone,’ says Ziggi Hanor, a BBC
reporter.

Arakelyan insists he doesn’t work alone, that a spirit helps him. He
says: `Almighty God helps me, I couldn’t do all this alone, I am just
realizing His work.’

As well as digging and cutting, he also craves on stone and makes
sculptures. Now the 21 meter deep and 300 square meter rocky pit has 6
rooms connected to each other by narrow stairs. In the small alcoves
at the sides of the stairs are lamps and sculptures by Arakelyan, one
like a Greek column, another like an Armenian capital, later a candle
holder carved in the wall like an open shell.

`I see everything in my dreams, the images come and I know even in
centimeters which part to carve, how I should decorate
everything. Then I go to work in the morning,’ says Arakelyan.

The atmosphere of mysterious silence underground and the coolness of
the carved stone gives an unusual sense of peace. You feel as if you
have ascended rather than descended from the surface of the earth.

Arakelyan hasn’t put down his cutter and hammer for 20 years. He says:
`I do not want to go out from here; this seems to be like my space, my
spiritual life that is fully separate from the secular world and its
problems.’

He has removed 450 trucks of soil and stones from here, used more than
20 cutters and hammers, and gone through innumerous pairs of shoes and
clothes that Arakelyan’s wife now preserves to show in the museum in
the future.

But her husband is not going to finish his work, insisting that he
will continue for 30 more years and dig 74 more rooms complete with
decoration.

`That is the order,’ he says simply.

Arakelyan has been granted the title of `Honored Cave Explorer’ by the
Center for Cave Studies for his work. Its president Samvel Shahinyan
says with admiration: `I have studied more than a thousand caves and
seen rocky structures in Europe, Africa and Asia.

`I am still shocked by the one created by Arakelyan. It is a miracle.’

HISTORY EXPOSED: ANCIENT MONUMENTS LACK PROTECTION, SAY EXPERTS

By Aris Ghazinyan
ArmeniaNow Reporter

Modern Armenia is one of the rare countries of the world in which no
more than 15 percent of the nation’s cultural monuments are on its
territory. The overwhelming majority of ruins of ancient and medieval
Armenian sanctuaries, temples, fortresses and cities, which number
several tens of thousands, are under the jurisdiction of Turkey today,
in the lands of historical Armenia.

Like Biblical Ararat, former capital cities of Armenia – Van, Ani,
Kars, Tigranakert, lie beyond the Turkish-Armenian border. It is
obvious that in order to get a true and comprehensive view of Armenia
one must visit the neighboring state as well.

The synthesis of past and the present against a background of amazing
nature gives Armenia its special character as an open-air
museum. Although the state is small, Armenia has many remarkable
features that remain undiscovered by foreign tourists and even many
citizens.

It is clear that `rediscovering Armenia’ should be a priority and that
this could be accompanied by a revival of Armenian legends and
traditions that were widely known in medieval Europe.

`What `rediscovery of Armenia’ can we talk about if well-known
monuments of the Armenian people are being destroyed today, about
which many generations of outstanding scholars wrote with admiration,’
says Ara Demirkhanyan, director of the historical-archeological museum
in Avan.

`The only city of the epoch of the most powerful Armenian monarch
Tigran II in the territory of the Armenian capital has already been
damaged. This is the way we mark today the 2,100th anniversary of the
ascent of the great king to the Armenian throne. A 200-meter fence,
which even a few years ago protected this unique monument now fences
the police precinct of Avan. It is an outrage, but, alas, there are
many such facts in modern Armenia.’

A few years ago Demirkhanyan drafted and sent to Yerevan’s
municipality a proposal to transform Avan into an
historical-archeological reserve, since most of the city’s ancient
monuments are concentrated in this district: besides the ancient city,
one could see also here a medieval necropolis with 150 vertical
khachkars, monumental stelae from the 5th Century, a first-ever
Christian cross-dome construction – the 6th Century Avan cathedral),
some chapels and examples of the old city’s construction. The
scholar’s project was rejected.

`Now, the city of Tigran II’s era is lost under personal
kitchen-gardens, one of the steles is destroyed, the chapel of
Karmravor has collapsed, and the necropolis is being intensively
destroyed,’ he says. `What state attention can we talk about if
representatives of law-enforcement bodies have `privatized’ the fence
around the monument?’

The head of the Erebuni archeological party Felix Ter-Martirosov
expresses a similar view, saying: `The fortress built of raw bricks is
collapsing before people’s eyes. For more than 20 years the monument
has been neglected by the state and nothing has been done to protect
it.

`Erebuni’s protection cannot be effective if the fortress has no
fence, and that’s why it is full of outsiders and not only at
night. Visits to the museum should be regulated by civilized forms of
management and strictly supervised.

`Today, this locality is like a chaotic square where groups of
strangers march about, ride bicycles, play football. Given that the
construction is collapsing, the presence of people with little idea of
cultural and national values on the territory of Erebuni day and night
is a disaster.’

The fortress of Erebuni on the Arin-Berd hill is still awaiting
full-scale study. The foundation was laid as far back as 782 BC by the
mighty king of the Van Empire Argishti I. Later, Erebuni became the
capital of the satrapy of Ahemenid Iran, and it is this layer of its
history that is visible on the surface today. Ter-Martirosov’s
investigation found a Van (Urartu) layer under the Iranian foundation,
a sensational discovery which failed to arouse official interest.

`Our expedition works on enthusiasm alone and is not financed by the
state,’ says the archeologist. `Our excavations become the `property’
of local residents who sneak in at night to find hidden
treasures. With competent management, Erebuni should be a Caucasian
Mecca for tourists, demonstrating the continuity of cultures and
traditions.’

So careless were municipal authorities towards the monument that last
year they even proposed to stage a concert on the site to mark the
2,786th anniversary of the foundation of Yerevan, despite warnings of
the damage that would be caused by the hundreds of guests. Only
widespread criticism of the plan in the media caused them to cancel
the event.

Attention was drawn to the condition of the Avan-Arinj settlement at
the 24th session of the General Assembly of the BSEC (the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
organization) in Antalia, Turkey, in November 2004.

A report at the session stated: `(Due to) the absence of political
will and connivance of the authorities, earth- moving works, looting,
planting of gardens in the territory…has reduced the monument to a
sad condition.’

According to the Mayor of Yerevan Yervand Zakharyan, the fate of some
18,000 pieces of land occupied by squatters will be decided soon. Some
have a direct link with historical monuments, such as the new cemetery
of Karmir Blur which extends onto the slopes of the hill on which King
Rusa II the city of Teishebaini in the 7th Century BC. Today’s tourist
is unable to distinguish between ancient stone and a nearby grave of
the second half of the 20th Century.

As for Erebuni, Yerevan’s vice-mayor Arman Sahakyan admits `the
situation on the hill is depressing.’

`We are thinking of setting up a fund for the restoration of the
`Erebuni’ museum and will try to include the monument into the
programs that receive international funding. Meanwhile, a professional
approach should be shown in order to continue archeological
excavations,’ he says.

Ter-Martirosov thinks the main problem is not the lack of funds, but
of understanding. He says: `About 70 million drams were spent on the
celebrations of Erebuni-Yerevan last year. It is obvious that some of
this money could have been spent more sensibly.’

DRESS CODES: TRADITIONAL COSTUMES GAIN APPRECIATION AND A MODERN TWIST

By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow Reporter

A group of Diaspora Armenians gathered in Vernisage, Yerevan’s
open-air flea market, was enthusiastically checking vests, hats and
bags made from carpet textile. Gohar from the United States donned an
Armenian embroidered skullcap and took in her hand a matching bag.

`Our traditional Armenian colors are a miracle, they lift your spirits
at once. All this seems to come from my soul,’ she says, paying folk
master Lilik Melkonyan for her goods.

Lilik says that national costume has been more appreciated lately and
is bought more often, but she also complains that Armenians suffer
more from complexes than other nations.

`Uzbeks very calmly wear their national skullcaps and never feel bad
about that. They love theirs and we like foreign ones more – Chinese,
Turkish. Thank God, now they begin to appreciate what they have,
especially the young people,’ she says.

Items with traditional Armenian embroidery go from Vernisage to the
United States, Canada, Australia, Iran, and the streets of
Yerevan. Those wearing national dress are given a different look in
the street. Those who dress confidently do not notice, but more
hesitant souls feel uncomfortable and some throw their garments to the
far corner of their wardrobes the very next day.

The painter Lusik Aguletsi has worn national dresses for 38 years. She
says at first people just assumed she was an artist, and when she
began to wear silver decorations together with the national dresses,
they thought perhaps she was a fan of `metal’ music.

But now everybody recognizes her and say simply: it is Lusik.

`I do nothing new, I do what has been done for 3,000 years. It doesn’t
depend on boldness, but on mentality, how one can fashion one’s
looks. Nothing should prevent us from preserving our national
traditions,’ she says.

The painter’s dressing table is full of multicolored skullcaps and
silver ornaments. Traditional Armenian dresses and bags are hanging on
the peg. When receiving guests during public holidays, members of
Lusik’s family put on traditional dresses. She says it is not her
influence, simply that they feel more beautiful.

Armine Stepanyan, an ethnographer at the Institute of Archaeology and
Ethnography, says that the traditional dress can be reborn as modern
fashion with freedom of imagination.

`We do not call for tying Armenian aprons around one’s waist, but the
embroidery and color of the apron can be used in part of the dress,’
she says.

`We have amazing outdoor dresses (short coats) instead of coats seen
in the Ararat, Syunik, and Artsakh national dresses. They can receive
modern styling, only the creative approach should be preserved.’

Generally, Armenian traditional taraz is divided into two groups –
Western Armenian, in which were included Vaspurakan, Bardzr Hayk,
Cilicia, Pokr Hayk, and Eastern Armenian including Syunik, Artsakh,
Ayrarat, Shirak, Javakhk, Lori, and Gugark.

`The traditional Armenian dress is the same in basic structure,
however each area had its own color and form peculiarities. The main
decoration of taraz was the scarf or headdress, which was also
regarded as an indicator of age. The kerchief, as well as other
elements of the head ornament spoke about a woman’s social position,’
Stepanyan explains.

The head ornaments included adornments of the forehead and
temple. Silver and gold coins were especially important here and in
chest ornaments. Today, many women continue to wear silver coins as
neck ornaments.

Aguletsi says that different provinces had different
headdresses. Women from Mush wore ones with patterns symbolizing
eternity, for example. Headdresses retain their appeal for many women
today – Melkonyan says that she recently received an order from a
group of school children who had decided to wear national costumes at
their prom.

Another ethnographer at the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography,
Svetlana Poghosyan, says that people were made to abandon headdresses
and forehead ornaments when the Soviet regime was established.

Armenian women faced serious problems. Activists began to put
headscarves the other way round, to cut their hair and shorten the
hems of their dresses.

`It was viewed in the Armenian environment as immoral, those wearing
short skirts were told that their hem was `wrong’ (i.e. they were
immoral). And headscarves were regarded as a woman’s honor, like a hat
for a man,’ Poghosyan explains.

Violet, different tints of red, and green were the colors mainly used
in traditional Armenian taraz. White featured relatively
little. Traditional wedding dresses were red and decorated with works
of the needlework schools of Marash, Ayntap, and Urha, as well as
batique.

The painter-designers of the `Zatik’ studio continue to boldly do all
this today. One of them, Gohar Ayvazyan, says that if you are Armenian
then you must continue the national culture.

The studio’s latest spring-autumn collection of 50 dresses is designed
with patterns of the `Urha’ school of needlework. Painter-designer
Tatevik Ghamaryan shows the collection and explains the handiwork in
detail.

`This is a stamping, this is batique. This cannot be repeated for a
second time, it will certainly differ from the first one. We also use
decorations from Armenian miniature and carpet embroideries. We
synthesize the old with the new and create the `New Urha’ style,’ she
says.

The studio will open a store in Yerevan on July 17 selling `Zatik’
clothes bearing different symbolic ornaments of Armenian traditional
dress. Ornaments had different meanings – perfection, eternity,
continuity – and often bore a defensive message too, especially if
placed on the rear of the dress or on the chest.

Stepanyan says: `The same pattern was transferred from wood onto
fabric, from fabric onto carpet, subjecting it to certain changes
because technique was adjusted to the material. They used vegetable
and geometric ornaments, which were more multifunctional and contained
lots of information about those wearing them.’

`The main idea of our national dress is that it was to cover all of
the woman’s charms. The eye-catching parts of the body should be
decorated with ornaments. A man was to see not a woman’s body but her
handwork, taste, and also guess which part of Armenia she was from,’
Aguletsi says.

`Once I was walking down a street in Paris, fully dressed in Armenian
traditional dresses and shining in red. A black woman came towards me
and stared.

`She stopped me to ask where I was from and I said I was an
Armenian. You know how surprised she was? She said `Do Armenians have
such a beautiful national dresses?’

`National dresses are our culture, our national wealth, our real
image. It is so rich – with bright colors and ornaments that there is
nothing superfluous there.’

ARMENIA AND JAPAN: ASYA LINKS TWO CULTURES IN BONDS OF DISCOVERY AND
DELIGHT

By Marianna Grigoryan
ArmeniaNow Reporter

Every time Asya Harutyunyan makes a business trip to Japan she never
forgets to take grape leaves with her.

In the land of the rising sun, a Japanese woman, Mika Ohira, takes the
sun-kissed grape leaves and turns them into the famous Armenian dolma.

Japan may be thousands of kilometers from Armenia and even further
away in terms of culture and philosophy. But Asya jokes that Mika
makes dolma more often than Armenians do.

“Many meals in our cuisine are made of boiled vegetables and meat, and
maybe that is the reason I loved the Armenian grape leave-wrapped
dolma,” says Mika.

Ohira learnt to make dolma from Asya when she visited Armenia as a
tourist. Harutyunyan, 30, is president of the “Asya Ararat” tourism
agency, which specializes in introducing these two ancient cultures to
each other.

An expert in Japan and the Japanese language, Harutyunyan is a
translator by profession and says she opened a tourism agency only by
accident in 2002.

“For three and half years I studied in the university of the former
capital and one of the oldest towns of Japan, Kyoto. I was always an
admirer of Japan, the Japanese language and music even before I went
there,” says Asya, whose room is filled with the sounds of Japanese
music and the walls are decorated with artifacts reflecting Japanese
culture.

Asya says that after completing her studies and returning to Armenia
she continues to keep links with her friends in Japan, who remain
close to her heart. Once when they visited Armenia as tourists, they
asked her to take them sightseeing; Asya showed them Garni and Geghard
and told them the history of these Armenian monuments.

“I then learnt that the next day they went to the same places with
their tour group as set out in their program but the guide gave such
poor information that my friends told the other Japanese the things
that I had told them the day before,” says Asya. “After that my
friends advised me to open my own agency and promised to become my
first clients.”

Harutyunyan says that, although she lacked financial means, she took
her friends’ advice and registered her tourism agency soon after with
a focus on connections between Japan and Armenia.

“Before that people from Japan visited Armenia only on an
inter-governmental level. Armenia wasn’t seen by Japanese as a country
for tourism,” says Asya.

The specialist of Japan says her friends and acquaintances are
beginning to give her customers, paying attention to her knowledge and
understanding of the culture of communicating with the Japanese.

“Our cultures and manners are very different,” says Asya. “If a
Japanese person suddenly sneezes, which is considered impolite for
them, the Armenian “Bless you!” is doubly inappropriate and
impolite. Such important details I learnt while in Japan. Being aware
of Japanese manners, I try here to present Armenia to them with all
its look and charm.”

Mika Ohira says she heard about Armenia for the first time in 1975 at
high school as part of lessons about the Soviet Union. She became
acquainted with Asya through the internet, where she learned about her
tourist activities, and decided to fulfill a long-held dream to visit
the Caucasus region and Armenia.

“I am confident today Armenia is more interesting in terms of tourism
than Russia for instance. I think Armenia is the country with the best
reputation among the CIS countries, besides it is also safe and
everything is quite cheap which is no less important,” says Mika.

Ohira says Armenians have impressed her with their
friendliness. Another tourist from Japan, Hiraoka Hirako, heard about
Armenia for the first time while traveling in Iran.

“We went to an Armenian village in Iran that interested me very
much. When I came back from my trip I began collecting information
about Armenia on the internet and decided to come,” says Hiraoka.

Harutyunyan says she can’t tell exactly how many tourists have come
from Japan. She adds: “Everything depends on the time; at times there
are many visitors, at others only a tourist or two. But these trips
are really unique.”

Visits from Armenia to Japan are unique not only for the high prices
(7-10 days tripd including the airticket costs nearly between $2,200
and $4,000), but also for their originality and sense of interest.

“Those leaving for Japan from Armenia are mainly upper class people,
who do not care about money. They have traveled across the world and
seek new original sensations,” says Harutyunyan. “People coming to
Armenia from Japan are interested in the ancient treasures of our
country, those wonders registered by UNESCO.”

According to Harutyunyan those wonders are divided into three groups.

The first place of visit is Ejmiatsin ` the Ejmiatsin Cathedral and
churches of Gayane and Hripsime. The second are Geghard and the Azat
gorge. And the third group where all the Japanese tourists wish to
visit by all means regardless of age and occupation are the Haghpat
and Sanahin monasteries. A visit has been organized also to Karabagh
upon the tourist’s request.

Besides the visits to historical and cultural places, trips are made
also to the capital’s restaurants, where usually the Japanese who love
healthy food consider the offerings to be too salty or greasy, and the
smoking and alcohol not very pleasant.

“The Japanese do not like Armenian spas (yoghurt soup) for they are
not very much used to dairy products,” says Harutyunyan. “But they
always take with them Armenian brandy, silver jewelry and handmade
table cloths that have been kept carefully for a long time.”

ON THE MAP: GUIDEBOOK WINS PRAISE FOR PUTTING ARMENIA AND KARABAKH IN
THE HANDS OF TOURISTS

By Arpi Harutyunyan ArmeniaNow Reporter

The Independent Book Publishers Association in the United States has
declared `The Stone Garden Guide to Armenia and Karabakh’ to be the
best travel guide published in 2004.

The authors of the book are Matthew Karanian and Robert
Kurkjian. Karanian is a member of the law faculty at the American
University of Armenia, where Kurkjian is a former faculty member.

They worked on the guide for about 12 months, traveling through
Armenia and Karabakh and taking photos of the sights.The sponsors were
the Cafesjian Foundation and Sargis Hakobyan, who lives in the United
States and is very interested in preservation issues in Armenia. A
significant part of the costs were also met by the authors.

`We worked on this book late at night and at week-ends, collecting all
the necessary materials, drawing maps, studying the history and
geography of the countries. It wasn’t easy, but we had set ourselves
an objective to write a real comprehensive guidebook for tourists who
want to travel to Armenia and Karabakh. We should assist in developing
tourism business in Armenia and Karabakh,’ says Karanian.

The guide-book offers everything that a tourist needs to know about
Armenia and Karabakh: history, geography, climate, population,
language, economy, politics, religion, architecture and so on. Useful
information is included also in sections such as `Before you go’,
`Organized tours and travel agencies’, `Foreign embassies in Yerevan’,
`Public transportation’, `Hotels’, `Restaurants’, `Money’, and even
`Children’s activities’. The map section covers all the regions in
Armenia and Karabakh.

`In the past, most books about Armenia seemed to be gloomy. We had
books about the earthquake, about the poor economy, everything seemed
so bleak. But that’s the wrong picture,’ says Karanian.

`Armenia is beautiful, and deserves to be visited. We felt that we
should encourage tourists, rather than push them away. We’ve been
tracking the results and we know that tourism has been increasing, and
that more people now want to visit.’

Bedros Safarian, a spokesman for Stone Garden Productions, publisher
of the guidebook, says he is thrilled by its success, adding: `As far
as I know, this is the first time an Armenia related book has received
such an award.’

The winning Armenian guide book competed with more than 1,500 entries
from the US, Canada and 18 other countries. The competition recognizes
independently published books in categories that include Fiction,
Non-Fiction, Romance, Poetry, Art, Photography and travel guides.

Jim Barnes, managing editor of the Independent Publisher’s
Association, evaluated `The Stone Garden Guide to Armenia and
Karabakh’ by saying that such books are changing the world, one book
at a time.

The Armenia book shared its winning finalist status in the travel
guide category with `Michelin Must Sees: New Orleans’, published by
Michelin Travel Publications.

The 304-page Armenia guide-book is based on two earlier guidebooks
also produced by Karanian and Kurkjian in 1999 and 2002 to introduce
Armenia to those living abroad.

`After we published our first book, `Out of Stone,’ we got lots of
inquiries, emails, from people who said they had never known that
Armenia was so beautiful. This encouraged us and we realized that we
should write a guide book,’ said Karanian.

The guide, printed in English, is being sold in Armenia and the
USA. In Armenia, copies are available in Artbridge café, and the
Congress and Ani Plaza hotels. Priced at $25, the majority of the
5,000 books printed have already been sold.

Now `The Stone Garden Guide to Armenia and Karabakh’ is the
best-selling independently published book about Armenia, booksellers
say.

According to Karanian, there is also one more important point: the
development of tourism will make Turkey take greater care of Armenian
monuments that are now on their territory and are being ruined, since
Turkey will see a chance to earn money when tourists visit Western
Armenia.

The authors plan to publish updated editions every 2 years. Says
Karanian: `We are going to continue to work on this book all our
lives. There is constant change here. We will continue to write about
the improvements, the progress.

`We are told that this is a book that can be trusted, and that’s the
best thing anyone can say about a book.’