Nearly 45
minutes outside the capital of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, lays an
interesting site near the city of Aparan, in the Aragatsotn Province, known as
Alphabet Park. Standing next to a small
pool of water and with the high Holy Cross hovering in the background lays a
monument of 39 giant carved Armenian letters in stone and statues of famous
Armenians such as H. Tumanyan, M. Gosh, and A. Shirakatsi. The park was dedicated to the creator of the
Armenian language, Saint Mesrop Mashtots whose language he created over 1,600
years ago is still spoken today.
The Armenian language
was created in 405 CE to make the Bible accessible to the new Christian nation
and spread the word of Christianity.
Armenians had to use Greek, Persian, and Syriac scripts to communicate
before but now their new language was more able to handle their complex sounds
of the local dialect. The Holy
Scriptures, being written in Syriac, was thus, unintelligible to the devout
followers requiring the constant need of translators.
With the
assistance of Isaac of Armenia and King Vramshapuh, Mesrop created thirty-six
letters for the national alphabet.
Centuries later, three more letters would be added for a total of 39
letters. Afterwards, Mesrop established
schools throughout Armenia where the new language was taught to help unify the
first Christian nation. Saint Mesrop
would later go on to create the alphabet for neighboring Georgia in the
north.
I had the good
fortune of visiting this interesting site in the early stages and end of summer
in 2017. When I first visited here the
ground was lush green and packed with dozens and dozens of tourists looking for
their letters to take a picture in front of it.
It’s easy to located since you can see it from the side of the highway
and there are a few vendors selling refreshments and souvenirs too. The area is not that big so it only takes a
few minutes to walk the entire grounds to see each alphabet as well as the
statues that are located behind the letters.
When I went back the second time I made sure to go very early in the
morning on a weekday when I knew there wouldn’t be as many tourists so I could
get good drone footage with as little as people in the frame as possible. I went early on Armenian Independence Day so
luckily for me I was able to beat the crowds before they arrived.
The creation of
the Armenian alphabet helped unify the country literally and culturally. This helped identify Armenians in a time and
era they were surrounded by larger and more powerful empires that ruled over
them.
The opening
ceremony took place on May 28th, 2005. Aside from the Alphabet Park, there are other
nearby sites worth visiting due to its proximity. Check out the Holy Cross of Aparan and the
Holy Trinity Altar of Hope that is within eye distance of the Alphabet
Park. Saghmosavank and Hovannavank
Monasteries are less than a 5-minute drive from there and lay next to an
impressive gorge too. If you don’t mind
driving about 30 minutes you can drive to the village of Oshakan and visit
Mesrop Mashtots Cathedral where the inventor of the Armenian alphabet rests and
you can also see a huge statue of him with superbly crafted statues of his
alphabet proudly on display.
Happy
traveling.
