Khor Virap Travel Guide

Khor Virap is a small monastery on the Ararat Plain near the border — one of Armenia's most classic, sacred and moving destinations. It is the birthplace of Armenia's conversion to Christianity: tradition holds that Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned in a deep dungeon here for thirteen years, after which the king declared Christianity the state religion in AD 301, making Armenia the world's first Christian nation; the dungeon, reachable underground, is still preserved. What makes it famous is its incomparable backdrop: the plain little monastery with the twin-peaked, snow-capped Mount Ararat — Armenia's spiritual totem and said resting place of Noah's Ark — rising behind it, most grand on clear mornings and in spring snow-shadow. About 1 hour from Yerevan, often a same-day trip.