In the mid-9th century BC, one of the most powerful states of the Ancient Near East, known as Urartu from Assyrian inscriptions, came down to the historic scene in the Armenian Highland. The Urartians called their country Biainili. It is mentioned as the Araratian Kingdom in the Bible.

Artefacts found, bear witness to a highly developed civilization of ancient Eastern type with a solid state system, literature, original ritual-religious system, prospering towns, crafts and arts. Urartu collapsed in the struggle against the Medians, Babylonians and Scythians in 585 BC. After the decline of the Urartian statehood, the kingdom of the Armenian Yervandids (Orontids) was formed on the same territory.

Available 2 sizes: 60 x 60 cm and 90 x 90 cm / 100% Silk

The Temple of Garni is the only standing Greco-Roman colonnaded building in Armenia and the former Soviet Union. Built in the Ionic order, it is located in the village of Garni, in central Armenia. It is the best-known structure and symbol of pre-Christian Armenia.

The structure was probably built by king Tiridates I in the first century AD as a temple to the sun god Mihr. After Armenia’s conversion to Christianity in the early fourth century, it was converted into a royal summer house of Khosrovidukht, the sister of Tiridates III. According to some scholars it was not a temple but a tomb and thus survived the destruction of pagan structures. It collapsed in a 1679 earthquake. Renewed interest in the 19th century led to excavations at the site in early and mid-20th century, and its eventual reconstruction between 1969 and 1975, using the anastylosis method. It is one of the main tourist attractions in Armenia and the central shrine of Hetanism