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The modern industrial
city of Tumanian
is
on the W side of the main Alaverdi road, almost invisible in the
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Just N of Tumanian is
the tiny hamlet of
Kober
Railroad Station.
About 80 m before the elevated little train
station, a little paved spur
leads up
beside the railroad tracks. Crossing them, a flight of
steps leads up and back,
finally climbing up steeply up the side of
the
gorge.
The
reward
for the
strenuous
10-minute
scramble
is
one
of
the
most
beautiful
places
in
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Armenia, Kober or Kobayr
Monastery. Perched on a shelf of the gorge, in an
ancient and
sacred place where springs seep out of the rock, trees and vines twine
among the intricately carved
blocks of the monastery.
The
Katoghike church at the S end, partly fallen into the gorge, was built
in 1171 by two
Kyurikian princesses, but became a property of the
Georgian Orthodox Zakarian
family soon after. Shahnshah
Zakarian
is buried here.
The bell-tower/mausoleum in the
middle of the complex
was built in 1279 to house the tombs of Mkhargryel and his wife Vaneni.
Note the little sacred spring flowing within. On the ledge above
is the refectory building.
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