Garni Gorge
Location: Kotayk region
From Yerevan:28km/38min
The Garni Gorge stretches along the length of the Azat (Garni) River and its tributary – Gokhta. It is interesting with its beautiful rocks, called “Symphony of Stones”. These rocks rise from the beginning to the very top of the gorge.
The length of the Azat River is 55 km, the drainage basin area is 550 km2. The river originates from the southwestern slopes of the Spitakasar peak of the Geghama ridge, from an altitude of3000-3200 m .
During excavations in Garni, an Early Bronze Age settlement from the 2nd half of the 3rd millennium BC was found: houses and buildings with a round and quadrangular layout. Since the 3rd millennium BC. Garni was one of the livestock and agricultural settlements in Armenia. These included tombs and archaeological materials from the late Bronze Age (2nd century BC), pottery from the Urartian and late Armenian periods (VI-IV centuries BC), as well as cuneiform writings of King Argishti, in which he calls Garni together with the surrounding area of the Garni region. In front of the castle there were urban-type settlements, traces of which are hidden by buildings of the medieval and modern periods. On the hills surrounding the village from the north, there is a medieval cemetery with decorated khachkars and personalized tombstones.
The valley of the Azat River is mostly filled with huge boulders formed as a result of destruction. On the Azat River there is a 13th-century pedestrian bridge, near the village ofGarni.At the top of the gorge there is the pagan temple of Garni and the monastery complex of Havuts Tar. From the side ofGarnithe rocky peninsula looks like a guitar.
