Garni Temple
First-century Hellenistic temple above the Azat gorge
- Area Kotayk
- Type Historic site
- Time needed 1h
Garni is the only Greco-Roman colonnaded temple left standing anywhere in the former Soviet Union, on a promontory above the Azat gorge 28 km east of Yerevan. What you see was rebuilt in the 1970s from the stones of the original, which an earthquake brought down in 1679.
Open in the planner →Getting there
About 30 minutes from central Yerevan. Marshrutkas to Garni village run from Mashtots Avenue; from the village it is a short walk. Most visitors pair it with Geghard by taxi or tour.
What you see
The temple, first century AD, Ionic, 24 columns, standing on a basalt spur with a sheer drop behind it. Beside it are the considerably older foundations of a royal summer palace and a Roman-style bathhouse with a surviving mosaic floor and a Greek inscription. Below, a path and a rough road lead down to the Symphony of Stones, a wall of hexagonal basalt columns in the gorge.
What to pair it with
Geghard, 20 minutes on. The Symphony of Stones is a 45-minute diversion on foot or a short drive; Havuts Tar is a two-hour round walk across the gorge for anyone with the legs.
When to go
Late afternoon light falls along the colonnade and into the gorge. Summer middays are hot and exposed up there, with no shade on the promontory at all.
What is hard about it
It is a reconstruction, and knowing that changes how it reads — roughly a third of the stone is new. The site is small and takes under an hour. The walk down to the basalt columns is steeper and rougher than it looks from above, and in wet weather it is slippery.
Common questions
Is Garni temple original or rebuilt?
Rebuilt, between 1969 and 1975, using the original fallen stones where they could be identified. The newer blocks are visibly plainer.
What was Garni temple for?
Most likely a temple to Mihr, the Zoroastrian sun god, built by King Tiridates I in the first century. Some scholars argue it was a royal tomb.
How long do you need at Garni?
An hour for the temple, bath and palace; add 45 minutes if you walk down to the Symphony of Stones.
Nearby
- Geghard MonasteryPartly carved into the rock face, a UNESCO World Heritage site
- Symphony of StonesBasalt columns lining the Garni gorge like organ pipes
- Havuts TarRuined monastery reached by a hike across the Azat gorge
- Kecharis Monastery11th-century complex in the ski town of Tsaghkadzor
- TsaghkadzorMountain resort with a cable car up Mount Teghenis
- PtghnavankRoofless 7th-century basilica above the Kasakh
More of the same kind
- Zvartnots Cathedral ruinsRuins of a 7th-century circular cathedral
- MetsamorBronze Age metallurgy site and museum
- DvinRuins of Armenia's early medieval capital
- Areni-1 CaveCave where the world's oldest leather shoe and winery were found