TREKKING TO MT. ARA WITH PHOENIX TOUR & KBS WORLD TV
In the April of 2013 Phoenix Tour Armenia was hosting the film crew of the biggest South Korean television network, the KBS. Trekking to Mount Ara with Phoenix Tour documentary later went on national primetime, and here is the full version of that broadcast.
Mount Ara, also known as Arai Ler, is a polygenetic stratovolcanic cone in Armenia’s Kotayk Province. Located north of Yerevan, the mountain has a destroyed crater and a base diameter of 9 km at an altitude of 1,900m. Mount Ara named after the early Armenian god and hero king being killed and brought back to life under the mythological circumstances involving the Queen Semiramis.
Built into a mossy cave, complete with a sacred spring, there is a shrine of Kuys Varvara (the Virgin Barbara), also known as Tsaghkevank, with saint’s tomb, altar, ferns, and candle vendors. The Vatican has decided that St. Barbara, like St. Christopher, is probably mythical, but if she did exist she was martyred by her cruel father for espousing Christianity, or alternatively snatched away by the angels. The town of Zoravan and a nearby church, Gharghavank, are located along the mountain’s lower slopes. The town of Yeghvard is below the mountain.
Video credits: KBS World TV
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