Individual / Wine Tour / Voskevaz, Talin Cathedral, Ashtarak Churches, Dashtadem Fortress

Ashtarak Churches  (Karmravor, Surb Mariane, Tsiranavor, Spitakavor)

Surb Hovhannes Church in Voskevaz

Voskevaz winery (wine tasting and tour in the winery)

Talin Cathedral

Dashtadem Fortress 

Tolma / Gata master class

The first stop of the tour is Ashtarak town, where we will visit the Karmravor Church (the 7th century), the most well-maintained church of Ashtarak, the Surb Mariane Church (the 13th century), the Tsiranavor Church (the 4th-5th centuries) and the Spitakavor Church (the 5th-6th centuries)

The next point of the tour is the «Voskevaz» Winery. «Voskevaz» in Armenian means "golden bunch." The remains of the «Badali Jam» church built in the 5th-7th centuries are located just a couple of kilometers from the winery, on the edge of the picturesque gorge of river Kasakh. Parts of karases (Armenian clay amphorae) were found nearby, which were dug into the ground and used to age the wine. The «Voskevaz Winery» was established in 1932. With all of the modern innovations, it still has carefully preserved much of its authentic elements including the buildings. The renaissance of the winery began in 2004. Today Voskevaz produces wine using both modern wine-making technology and traditional old karases that were made in the 19th century. 

In Voskevaz village we will also visit the Surb Hovhannes Church.

The next point is the Talin Cathedral, located in Talin city. The cathedral is considered to be one of the largest in the country. The Talin Cathedral was rebuilt from basilica into a domed temple by Nerses Kamsarakan in the second half of the 7th century. From the point of view of architecture, it is a more developed and perfect structure of this type. The inner walls of the Talin Cathedral were covered with frescoes. The influence of the Zvartnots temple is noticeable in the decoration and rich decorative elements of the outer facades. The Talin Cathedral has 28 huge windows, which are located on all walls and sides of the apses. The facades from outside are decorated with decorative arcades with paired semi-columns on the sides of the apses and the drum of the dome.

The steles found on the territory of the Talin Cathedral are unique monuments of the Armenian memorial art of the early Middle Ages. The local cross-stones are dated back to the 5th-6th centuries and are the prototypes of later samples spread throughout Armenia. The Cathedral was greatly damaged by the earthquakes of 1840 and 1931 and was thoroughly restored in 1972–1973. The remains of a single-nave church and a palace were discovered during the restoration work and excavations. 

The last point of the tour is the Dashtadem Fortress. Written sources did not contain any information about the time of its construction. The castle-citadel is the most ancient fortification. It is assumed that the castle was built by the Kamsarakans in the 7th century on the foundation of the structure of the Urartian period. This is a quadrangular, hall-like, three-storey building fortified with towers, erected with purely hewn stones of reddish tuff.

The hall is vaulted, the walls are plastered from the inside, the floor is paved with slabs. There were no windows, lighting was carried out by means of light openings in the ceiling. An Arabic inscription has been preserved on the southwestern tower, indicating that in 1174 the Sultan of Ani ibn Shavur Shattadin fortified the castle-citadel from the outside with polygonal and round pyramidal towers. The internal premices of the towers had windows. The only entrance was opened in the southwest corner, the door wa made of stone.

Departure: 10:00

Arrival: 20:00

Departure place: Hakob Hakobyan str. 1

Total distance: 120 km

1 person - 50.000 AMD,

2-3 persons - 30.000 AMD,

4-10 persons - 22.000 AMD,

11-20 persons - 18.000 AMD,

21-30 persons - 11.000 AMD