Armenian Apostolic Church

Armenia was the first country to declare Christianity the state religion, and the church has been a pillar of its identity ever since. For that reason the major part of sightseeing in Armenia includes visits to 800 years old monasteries hidden in forests. Their roofs and facades covered in greenness; khatchkars (carved crosses) scattered all around like crumbs on a table. Once St Gregory the Illuminator, first catolicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church, has been imprisoned in a deep well (khor virap) for 12 years, where he was secretly fed by local women. The site is an important pilgrimage nowadays and it was a claustrophobic experience to climb 60m down the well on a metal ladder.