Youth4media project: young foreigners discover Armenia

A group of German, Spanish, Georgian and Armenian students are having seminars in Yerevan on May 6-15 in frame of the Youth4media organization. The seminars are on video journalisms and cross media journalism. Participants of the workshops are getting practical skills and attend the lectures. The trainers are from Poland. According to the special program they are informed about the video shooting, video editing, HTML programming, dealing with the text and other tools of journalism.

The course also aims to present the Armenian culture and traditions of Armenia.

The group is separated in smaller ones and every small group has some tasks to do. One of the tasks was to prepare media coverage about the trip to Garni.

Nowtimes.ampresents two articles, which were prepared by two groups. The other articles and videos will be presented as well.

Article 1

Trip to Garni: meeting with Armenian culture

Ancient God of sun and fire invites you to Armenia. A country of traditions, fruits, sun, churches, crossstones and well educated people. The first country in the world that adopted Christianity. It happened in the year 301. But there is still one magic pagan place that remained until now. Garni temple. The temple of God Mihr. The God of sun and fire.

On May 9, a group of German, Spanish, Georgian and Armenian students had a meeting with God of Sun. They visited Garni  temple. The group of international students are in Armenia in frame of the program Youth4media organization. Students exchange the experience during the course and improve their skills on journalism with the trainers’ assistance. Besides this they are getting in contact with the Armenian culture.

“When I was studying the arts in the university, I have heard about the Hellenic style of architecture, but it is really cool to see it alive”, said Conchi, one of the Spanish students when she saw the temple.

And now some historical facts about the temple.

Garni temple is situated at the edge of the existing cliff. It was found out in 1909–1910 but the full publication of its architecture appeared only in 1933.Templeis considered to constructed in the 1st century AD by the King Tiridates I ofArmenia.

Garni has suffered during the history rather a lot: it was robbed in 14th century by Timur Lenk. Then in 17th century it was destroyed by an earthquake. Most of the original architectural members and building blocks remained at the site until the 20th century.

Besides temple there is also a bath. It is also included in Garni complex. One of its floors is decorated with a mosaic reproducing a well known late Hellenistic iconographic type Armenian King and Queen used this bath. One of the participants joked that he wanted to have a shower just now in this bath.

After Garni temple the group visited Geghard Monastery. Geghard Monastery is not far from Garni, just for about 10 km from Garni.

The Geghard Monastery was founded around 4th century. It is supposed Grigor Illuminator had founded the monastery. According to ancient legend the legendary spear that pierced Christ was brought to Geghard Monastery. When Christ was crucified the Jews tortured him and one of them hit Christ with a spear. And Armenians believe a part of that historical spear is kept in Geghard Monastery. Word “Geghard” just means “spear” in Armenian.

The caves from the mountain are one of the most interesting sights to see in Geghard complex. There are some cross stones in these caves. These are holy places for Armenians.

People believe that if they keep a dream in this monastery their wish will come true. Armenian students advised to do the same to the guests. Foreign students were especially impressed by the small rivers which passed through the caves. They even tasted the water and found it really pure and tasty. One of the Polish participants, Magda, was surprised that Armenians have created monasteries in the mountains and it is really hard to reach. And this question has its explanation. Armenians have to live with neighbors which attacked Armeniaall the time and Armenian churches were among the main targets for them. So many Armenian churches are situated in mountains in order to be hard reachable for the attack.

The students wanted more time to be in the Monastery, but it was time to leave.

On the end the students bought some traditional sour “lavash” which is made from apple, cherry and plum and sold near the Monastery. After it the group returned to Yerevan.

The source is here.

Article 2

Tourist feeling about Garni

My name is Alvaro Moreno Garcia, and like other times I’m ready for a new interesting challenge. Today we’re going to visit the temple of Garni. I’m miles of kilometers from home, but I feel really comfortable because of the people I’m living with. I’m a tourist in Armenia.

Today we’ve visited the temple of Garni. It’s situated about half an hour from Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. The landscape is a mix of powerful nature and small Armenian shops and houses. People take the life very relaxed.

In outskirts of the temple, the landscape is amazing. It is enveloped in a gorgeous mountain system. Some marks on the rocks that seem like the pipes of an organ.

We were sitting out there and a little child came to talk to us. He was really kind, as the rest of the Armenian people.

At the end of our trip to Garni we found some food and souvenirs shops, where we had the chance to taste a typical sponge cake from Armenia. It was the last bite before we continued to discover this wonderful country: next stop, Geghard.

You can feel the freedom of this place. The spring weather in Armenia is really warm, and I love it. You can hear the steps of the tourist and the noise of the river.

Inside of the temple there was an Armenian man playing duduk, a kind of flute typical from here. In the middle of the temple you can find a hole. People throw coins into the hole to get their wishes come true, because it’s said to have powers.

The source is  here.

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