One-Day Jeep Tour: Mughni Village (Church of St Gevorg) – Kasagh River Gorge – Tsaghkevank – Mount Arai Summit

Mughni is a village in Armenia’s Aragatsotn Province, just 2 km north of the town of Ashtarak, at 1,260 metres above sea level. On the edge of the village stands the beautiful Church of St Gevorg (Surb Gevorg). According to the 17th-century historian Father Zakaria Kanakertsi, the monastery was founded by the governors of Hovhannavank, who brought the relics of St Gevorg here. This probably happened in the late 13th century, since manuscripts were already being copied at Mughni Church by 1278. Later, part of the saint’s relics was taken to Georgia to heal Prince Dato, and afterwards a church of St Gevorg was built in Tbilisi on that spot.

The church is a rectangular domed basilica built of striking black and yellowish-red stone, with a conical roof. Below the dome windows, you can see stone carvings of the Evangelists. Inside, some colourful frescoes from the 17th century have survived. According to experts, they may have been painted by the famous Armenian artist Naghash Hovnatan, who also decorated the Cathedral of Etchmiadzin and several churches in Yerevan and in Agulis, a historic town that is now part of Nakhchivan.

The next stop is Tsaghkevank, known as the “Flower Monastery” or the Chapel of Kuys (Virgin) Varvara. Perched on Mount Arai, it includes small chapels and caves built of local stone. Catholicos Simeon of Yerevan (1710–1780) mentions the existence of the monastery.

The date of the monastery’s foundation is unknown; however, according to tradition, in the 4th–5th centuries there was a “holy site” here that attracted large numbers of pilgrims. The monastery is a rock-cut church. A spring flows from the rock; its water contains zinc and is believed to help in the treatment of muscle and joint pain.

People come to Mount Arai to take with them the “tears” of the Great Martyr Saint Varvara, which are believed to cure illnesses. The water never ceases to flow from the roof of the chapel.

Mount Arai is an extinct volcano in Armenia, located between the Aragatsotn and Kotayk provinces, between the Hrazdan and Kasagh rivers. Its elevation is 2,575.9 meters above sea level. The volcano has an irregular cone shape with a truncated summit and a ring-shaped crater.

The mountain’s name is associated with the Armenian king Ara the Beautiful, who, according to legend, was killed on its slopes. During a battle against the Assyrian queen Semiramis, Ara stationed his army at the foot of Mount Arai, while the queen positioned her forces on the slopes of Mount Hatis. According to an ancient legend, Ara the Beautiful rejected Queen Semiramis’s love and the Assyrian throne and soon perished in a battle that took place near this mountain. Since that time, the mountain has borne his name—Arai.

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