Artsakh - Amaras Monastery and AF Projects

On our first day in Artsakh, we visited many of the Armenia Fund projects.  These projects are supported by many Armenia Fund donors all over the world, and seeing them first hand was very reassuring that the money is being used in the most needed areas of the communities.

Togh Art School

Togh Art School - Student art

Martuni Regional Hospital Project

After visiting the projects, we made our way to Amaras Monastery, which is the oldest monastery in Karabagh.  Mesrop Mashtots, the creator of the Armenian alphabet has taught here 1600 years ago.  He created the alphabet to translate the Bible from Greek, since most Armenians did not understand Greek.  Baron Khosrov kept saying that while many humans were still living on trees, we were creating manuscripts...  At first it was funny...  Then I realized it's true!

The church is named St. Gregoris, in honor of the grandson of St. Gregory the Illuminator, and if I remember correctly, his tomb is located here.