Garni Temple (Kotayk province, Armenia)
N 40° 06.738 E 044° 43.818
38T E 477016 N 4440256
The Garni Temple, located 26 km east of the Armenian capital Yerevan, is one of the most preserved examples of Greco-Roman sacral architecture worldwide and also it is one of the most visited places in Armenia.
Waymark Code: WMGCER
Location: Armenia
Date Posted: 02/14/2013
Views: 8
The Garni Temple, located 26 km east of the Armenian capital Yerevan, is one of the most preserved examples of Greco-Roman sacral architecture worldwide and also it is one of the most visited places in Armenia.
About the origin of the Temple exist several theories - the most trustworthy of them says that the temple, dedicated to Roman god of the sun Helios (or its local equivalent Mithra), was built by the Armenian King Tridates I in the 1st century A.D. Important was funding from the Roman Emperor Nero in exchange for military support against the Parthian empire. After Christianity was adopted in Armenia in the early 4th century, most pagan monuments were destroyed or abandoned. Garni, however, was preserved at the request of the sister of King Tridates II and used as a summer residence for Armenian royalty.
The temple was built in the place of an Urartian Temple and emulates the latter's dimensions (5 × 8 m). The Garni Temple contains 24 Ionic columns resting on a elevated podium and unlike other Greco-Roman temples, it is made of basalt. In 1679 an earthquake destroyed this ancient Roman temple and it lay in ruins until its reconstruction in the 1970s.