Mashtots Hayrapet Church of Garni

Mashtots Hayrapet is a 12th-century church in Garni, built on ground that once held a pagan shrine. That earlier history left a trace at the gate.

At the right of the entrance, upon a low stone wall, sits a slab of red tufa (volcanic rock) carved with a bird perched on a flowering stem. Below its tail is a rosette, a pre-Christian symbol tied to the sun or moon and to the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. It is said the carving connects this stone to the shrine that stood here before the church.

Garni village sits in Kotayk province, east-southeast of Yerevan, about 20 km away as the crow flies.