Mount Ararat

I will start from the beginning of the story; according to the book of Genesis, during the great flood, Noah’s Ark landed on the Ararat Mountain. The name of the mountain comes from the Hebrew word “Urartu”. Urartu or the Van Kingdom was situated in the Armenian highland in the 6-9th centuries. In the area of Van’s kingdom were preserved frescoes, buildings, and more than 600 cuneiform recordings.

Consequently, it is considered to be the national symbol and biblical mountain of the Armenians. The first people who reached the top of the sacred mountain were Friedrich Parrot (German mountaineer), Khachatyr Abovyan(a great Armenian writer and public figure) and four others.

Mt. Ararat is located in the eastern part of Turkey on the borders of Armenia, Iran, and Azerbaijan. It is the volcanic mountain with a height of 5,165m. It is consists of two distinct volcanic cones, the biggest one is called “Masis” (5,165 m), the smallest is Sis with a height of 3,896m.

Even though the pride of Armenians is not in the territory of Armenia, it doesn’t prevent them not to love the mountain and consider it to be their possession. The locals call it the “holy mountain”; also they have a region and city (Ararat) which were named after the Biblical Mountain.

It is important to realize that in the Bible is written that; on the 17th day of the seventh month, the Ark of Noah landed on the Ararat Mountain. That day the human race got their second birth on that mountain, which was located in Armenia. And that time, the Armenian land was sanctified and it became holy land and Ararat, the Holy Mountain.

The Armenians consider that the Biblical Mountain was and will be the “silent witness” of the history of Armenia. By the same token, the mountain is the eternal memorial, in the memory of the 1, 5 million victims of Genocide. And despite the fact that the mountain is not officially in the territory, the Holy Mountain shows its beauty to Armenia.