Things to do in Ashtarak

No. 1 of Best Things to Do in Armenia

Yerevan Cascade

The Yerevan Cascade is a landmark complex in the capital of Armenia. This giant staircase, built into the hillside, connects the city center with Victory Park at the top. Multiple platforms are linked by hundreds of steps, rising along the city's main axis. Today, it serves as a public space for locals to walk and relax, and also attracts visitors from around the world who come specifically to see it. It is like an open-air art museum itself. The plaza at the bottom features a statue of its visionary, the architect Tamanyan, while fountains and courtyards are dotted along the platforms, and contemporary sculptures like Botero's "Black Cat" are displayed in the open air. Inside, it houses the exhibition halls of the Cafesjian Center for the Arts. As you ride the escalators through it, you can also see collections by artists such as Andy Warhol and Chagall along the way.

No. 7 of Best Things to Do in Armenia

Holy Church Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin

Holy Church Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin is the mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church and the seat of the Catholicos, with the entire enclosed "Holy See" complex spreading out from it as the center. The building before you has undergone numerous reconstructions and additions over approximately 1,500 years: the core structure dates back to the 5th century, while the dome and bell tower reflect their 17th-century appearance. The interplay of gray old walls and ochre-red new walls on the same church is like a three-dimensional history of Armenian architecture. Stepping inside, the paintings of the Virgin Mary under the dome and altar are the work of the 18th-century painter Naghash Hovnatan, and early reliefs depicting saints are preserved on the north wall. The courtyard houses a treasury displaying sacred relics and ancient manuscripts, such as the Holy Lance, wood fragments said to be from Noah's Ark, and illuminated Gospels from a thousand years ago. It remains an active religious site to this day, with ceremonies often held on weekdays, and believers from all over gather here for major church festivals.

Zvartnots Museum-Reservation

Zvartnots Museum-Reservation is located on the outskirts of Vagharshapat in western Armenia. Its core is the ruins of a circular cathedral built in the mid-7th century. This architectural style is extremely rare in medieval Armenian architecture: it features a nearly circular polygonal exterior plan, a cruciform, four-lobed interior layout, and is surrounded by an ambulatory, with traces of Urartian-era structures layered beneath it. You can still walk along the circle of standing stone columns on the base, examine the eagle-shaped capitals and relief bands of grapevines on the column tops, and imagine what this three-story cathedral looked like when it stood complete on the plain.

No. 4 of Night Attractions in Armenia

Republic Square

Republic Square is the central square of Yerevan and a representative urban space in the city's downtown area. Most of the surrounding buildings are built with the locally unique pink tuff, and the overall design features distinct neoclassical and local Armenian architectural elements. The building facades extensively utilize arches, colonnades, and stone ornamentation, creating a cohesive urban space with the expansive central square. A large fountain sits in the center, featuring musical fountain shows at night, and serves as a prominent public landmark.

No. 10 of Best Things to Do in Armenia

Armenian Genocide Museum

Located southwest of Yerevan on theTsitsernakaberd Ancient Ruinshill, the Armenian Genocide Museum was built in 1965, which marked the 50th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Although the Armenian Genocide Museum is small, it covers a wide range of content, including the situation of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire before the genocide, the genocide itself, and the international response at the time and its historical impact. Outside the memorial, there is a genocide monument, an eternal flame, a memorial wall, and a memorial park with trees planted by heads of state.

No. 3 of Best Things to Do in Yerevan

Blue Mosque

Blue Mosque is located in the center of Yerevan and was built during the Persian rule in the 1760s. It is one of the few ancient buildings in the city that has survived to this day and is still in use as a mosque. It gets its name from the blue Persian tiles that cover a large area of its dome and exterior walls, and this shade of blue stands out remarkably against the city's pink-toned tuff buildings. Inside the mosque is a large Persian-style courtyard with rose beds surrounding a central pool, encircled by continuous arcades and rows of arched chambers. During the Soviet era, it was converted into a museum for over half a century, and today it also serves as an Iranian cultural center where local young people often come to learn Persian.

No. 11 of Best Things to Do in Armenia

Saint Gregory The Illuminator Cathedral

Saint Gregory The Illuminator Cathedral, also known as St George's Cathedral, is one of the largest Armenian Apostolic churches in Yerevan and, along with theHoly Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi, is one of the largest religious buildings in the South Caucasus region. It can be seen from many places in Yerevan. Construction of Saint Gregory The Illuminator Cathedral began on April 7, 1997, and it was consecrated on September 23, 2001. Pope John Paul II visited the cathedral after its consecration.

Saghmosavank

Armenian Alphabet Monument

No. 3 of Best Things to Do in Armenia

Garni Temple

Garni Temple is a Hellenistic temple in Armenia and the easternmost intact Hellenistic temple in the world. The temple was built in the 1st century, during the era of Roman Emperor Nero and Armenian King Tiridates I. The original structure was destroyed in the earthquake of 1679, and what visitors see today was reconstructed by archaeologists during the Soviet era under Brezhnev, using many architectural components scattered on the site. There are many other historical sites around the temple, such as the ruins of a Roman bathhouse in the distance to the southwest, which still preserves a mosaic featuring a sea goddess.