I can still remember seeing my first images of Armenia on a wall calendar in my grandmother’s house during my childhood. I can’t recall what the photos were depicting, but I can remember the feeling. I felt a connection to this foreign, yet familiar place. It was an indescribable feeling.
Many other diasporan Armenians also likely grew up hearing about Armenia, seeing the occasional photo or painting (probably of Khor Virap in front of Mount Ararat). Some of us were lucky enough to visit at some point as well. My first visit finally came in 2013 in the form of what I would call a typical “First Time Armenia Family Vacation.”
This was a two-week trip with plenty of down time in Yerevan and minibus tours to popular sites: Garni, Geghard, Noravank, Areni, Khor Virap, Sevanavank, Jermuk, Karahunj, Tatev, etc. If you were lucky, maybe a trip north to Sanahin and Haghpat. Sound familiar? If you’ve been to Armenia once, you can probably relate to this!
So what’s next? At the end of my trip, I remember thinking to myself that I had seen everything, and there was nothing left that was worth going back for. Unfortunately, I feel like many who visit Armenia for the first time might have this same feeling.
Why do we have this feeling? Why don’t we know that there are many other amazing, beautiful and important places to visit? One of the fundamental causes is the lack of modern accessible information. We simply have no idea what we are missing, what treasures remain unknown, unless we do a little more digging.
That is where my project Armenia: In Between comes in – to help make the digging a bit easier.
Several years after my family vacation, I journeyed back to Armenia to participate in the Birthright Armenia volunteer program for almost a year. Besides the valuable involvement working as a volunteer with local organizations and having an immersive experience with a host family, we also went on weekend excursions, mostly to places I had been to already. During this time, I started thinking about what other places I could see, not knowing if they even existed. This marked the unofficial beginning of the project.
It started with a trip to Havuts Tar Monastery, dragging my Birthright friends along with me, and then the creation of a Google custom map. For the last five years, I have been researching and adding my findings to the map. Since my background is in photography, I know it is important to explain information along with original photos.
In my research, I found that many places to visit were located in between and not far from the typical tourist sites. That is where the “In Between” name of the project comes from.
For example, almost every tourist has visited Sevanavank, but on your way, just 15 to 20 minutes off the main highway you can visit the remote and picturesque Neghuts Vank.
Or let’s say you are visiting Jermuk to enjoy some hot springs; instead of taking the usual road to get there, take an additional 25 minutes and take the road through the stunning Arpa River valley and visit the jewel of the Vayots Dzor province, Gndevank.
There are also some amazing sites in Yerevan. Take a 10-minute taxi ride to the neighborhood of Avan and check out the St. Hovhannes Chapel with its intricate altar and khachkar monument. If you didn’t know where you were, you would have no idea you were in Yerevan!
So what will my project provide for you? In addition to photos and information, there is also an interactive map that will help you visualize where these sites are. You can find where you have already been, see what you have missed and plan your next trip.
This is all about having a tool that provides accessible information. During my research, I found bits and pieces of information spread all over, mostly not on the first page of a Google search, from English, Armenian and Russian online sources. It was therefore one of my main goals to combine it all in one place.
I believe this is an important project for several reasons. Its primary purpose is to serve as a resource that can provide access to information. By having this information in the form of visuals and interactive maps, it will persuade people to visit Armenia again and again. I want to avoid people having the same feeling I did after my first trip, because there are definitely more places worth visiting than just the typical tourist spots. This is one of the keys to future tourism in Armenia.
This project is also an important step to increase awareness of sites that are in danger of disappearing. By sharing these places and people visiting them more often, it is more likely that these historic sites will be preserved. When people start asking the tour companies about places they don’t usually visit, it will create a snowball effect. Tour companies will add new places to their itineraries, locals in those areas will benefit from tourism and there will be pressure on the government to preserve the sites.
You can support my work on Patreon.
Latest posts by Raffi Berberian (see all)
- The “Armenia: In Between” Project - January 11, 2023
Thank you, Raffi! Beautiful photos. I lived there for six years and sime of these churches were unknown to me. It’s such a pity that because of lack of funds or interest; they are left in such dire condition.
Thank you Catherine! Yes hopefully my project will bring these sites back into the public eye and they will get the attention they deserve!
Rafi
Thanks for the excellent article worth reading for those who have not had a chance to see these historic buildings & churches. I had not known of the building Tatevi Anapat on my 4 visits to Armenia. Also, very nice photos of the buildings.
Glad I was able to share something new to you! Next time you go, I hope my project will have inspired you to visit one of these places.
Excellent initiative Raffi. I am sure you have seen the tourism book published over 20 years ago by Raffi Kojian (and Brady Kiesling) “Rediscovering Armenia: An in-depth inventory of villages and monuments in Armenia and Artsakh” available now in a kindle edition on Amazon.
Raffi Kojian made sure he went and photographed all monuments available at the time in Armenia. Well, we are still discovering more jewels.
Thank Antoine, yes I used that book a lot when adding new places onto my map of where I wanted to go, it was an amazing resource! Still so many places to discover.
Thank you for your beautiful pictures and the information about our beautiful country I visited Armenia several time but per your information there are still much more places to be discover. Thanks again and good luck 🍀
My pleasure! Yes plenty more places, I hope you go back and visit some of these sites!