Amaras Monastery

Amara is an Armenian monastery near the village of Martuni Soss in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. It was founded around the year 310 by Saint Gregory the Illuminator.

Finally, the monastery suffered damage than in 1992 briefly fell into the hands of Azerbaijani troops in the course of the fighting over Nagorno Karabakh.

History

The monastery Amara is one of the oldest Christian monuments in the world and is the place where the inventor of the Armenian alphabet Mesrop Mashtots St., a school founded in the newly invented script was tested for the first time for teaching purposes. It was founded in the 4th century by the legendary St. Gregory the Illuminator, the Armenian king Trdat III. baptized in 301 and the Armenian Kingdom for the first Christian state made ​​in history. A hundred years later the monastery was destroyed by Persian invaders who wanted to bring the pagan beliefs back to Armenia. In the 5th century Amara was restored by King Watschagan II the Pious of Artsakh.

When the Arabs invaded Armenia in 640 years, Amara was sacked again. In the 9th century it was under the patronage of Yesai, Prince of Disak, rebuilt. In the 18th century restored Melik Shah Nazar, the Duke of Waranda, the buildings of Amara and pulled a massive fortress wall around the monastery. The oldest and most important part of the monastery is the underground mausoleum of St. Grigoris, the grandson of St. Gregory the Illuminator, from the 4th century. An Armenian text on a part of his grave stone reads: