Showing us how one man’s marble mausoleum is another’s potato cellar, Levon’s Divine Underground Museum in the Armenian village of Arinj is a true testament to love, faith and perseverance.
By Raul Dias
The tiny Armenian village of Arinj isn’t particularly easy on the eye. Dreary-looking Soviet era apartment blocks, with their chimneys belching grey smoke every now and then, dominate the landscape. Ditto for the gnarly, winter-ready trees poking lethargically up at the sky in all their leafless gloominess.
But then, no one really makes the 20-minute drive up here from Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan for all that. Home to Armenia’s very own ‘Taj Mahal’ aka. Levon’s Divine Underground Museum, Arinj features prominently on most travellers’ checklists. And there is absolutely no need to ask for directions or rely on Google maps to get here. Once at Arinj, all the signs (quite literally!) point out to this unique attraction.
Hidden 70 meters beneath a modest-looking home, itself placed haphazardly at the end of a meandering alleyway, are a series of rough-hewn subterranean chambers, vestibules and passageways. All carved out by one man named Levon Arkelyan paying heed to the request of his wife Tosya.
And no, that request wasn’t anything remotely romantic such as a beautiful memorial needing to be built for her. All Tosya desired was a simple potato cellar so that she could stow away the tubers she had grown in her garden for the winter. That was in 1985.
Over the next 23 years, what Levon created with his own bare hands—using rudimentary tools such as simple chisel and hammer sets along with what he claimed was divine assistance from spirits—was nothing short of a marvel. Working alone, almost 24 hours a day for over two decades, Levon managed to dig through the tough basalt layer of rock and reach the softer and easy to carve through tuff stone, recognised for its blushing pink hue.
It was from the tuff that Levon’s creations started to take shape. These included the main stepped pathway leading down to six small chambers and ribbed roofed vestibules, all elaborately decorated with Doric columns, traditional Armenian carved crosses called khachkars and stunning bas-reliefs. Covering over 300 square meters and at 21 meters long as it stands today, the original plan was for it to be a virtual mini city of 74 rooms. Sadly, that was not to be.
With Levon’s sudden passing in 2008, all Tosya could do was preserve the memory of her husband by turning his labour of love, faith and perseverance into a ‘pay-as-you-please’ private museum where she and her daughters take turns to guide visitors through a space that’s truly divine.
Chamber of Secrets!
Perched majestically atop a small hill in Armenia’s Ararat plain close to the Turkish-Armenian border is the Khor Virap monastery. Literally meaning “deep dungeon” in Armenian, Khor Virap is said to be the place where Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned in an underground chamber for 14 years by Pagan King Tiridates III as part of his religious persecution campaign. It was only in 301 AD when the king was cured of dementia by Gregory, who claimed to have been aided by divine forces, that he was set free and Armenia was declared a Christian country.
(A differently edited version of this article appeared in the 1st December 2019 issue of the Hindustan Times, India newspaper's Weekend supplement, on page III. https://www.hindustantimes.com/travel/travel-armenia-s-divine-underground-museum-is-a-legacy-of-love/story-Zok0VgI7s7IDWw1N65iRtL.html)
By Raul Dias
The tiny Armenian village of Arinj isn’t particularly easy on the eye. Dreary-looking Soviet era apartment blocks, with their chimneys belching grey smoke every now and then, dominate the landscape. Ditto for the gnarly, winter-ready trees poking lethargically up at the sky in all their leafless gloominess.
But then, no one really makes the 20-minute drive up here from Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan for all that. Home to Armenia’s very own ‘Taj Mahal’ aka. Levon’s Divine Underground Museum, Arinj features prominently on most travellers’ checklists. And there is absolutely no need to ask for directions or rely on Google maps to get here. Once at Arinj, all the signs (quite literally!) point out to this unique attraction.
Hidden 70 meters beneath a modest-looking home, itself placed haphazardly at the end of a meandering alleyway, are a series of rough-hewn subterranean chambers, vestibules and passageways. All carved out by one man named Levon Arkelyan paying heed to the request of his wife Tosya.
And no, that request wasn’t anything remotely romantic such as a beautiful memorial needing to be built for her. All Tosya desired was a simple potato cellar so that she could stow away the tubers she had grown in her garden for the winter. That was in 1985.
Over the next 23 years, what Levon created with his own bare hands—using rudimentary tools such as simple chisel and hammer sets along with what he claimed was divine assistance from spirits—was nothing short of a marvel. Working alone, almost 24 hours a day for over two decades, Levon managed to dig through the tough basalt layer of rock and reach the softer and easy to carve through tuff stone, recognised for its blushing pink hue.
It was from the tuff that Levon’s creations started to take shape. These included the main stepped pathway leading down to six small chambers and ribbed roofed vestibules, all elaborately decorated with Doric columns, traditional Armenian carved crosses called khachkars and stunning bas-reliefs. Covering over 300 square meters and at 21 meters long as it stands today, the original plan was for it to be a virtual mini city of 74 rooms. Sadly, that was not to be.
With Levon’s sudden passing in 2008, all Tosya could do was preserve the memory of her husband by turning his labour of love, faith and perseverance into a ‘pay-as-you-please’ private museum where she and her daughters take turns to guide visitors through a space that’s truly divine.
Chamber of Secrets!
Perched majestically atop a small hill in Armenia’s Ararat plain close to the Turkish-Armenian border is the Khor Virap monastery. Literally meaning “deep dungeon” in Armenian, Khor Virap is said to be the place where Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned in an underground chamber for 14 years by Pagan King Tiridates III as part of his religious persecution campaign. It was only in 301 AD when the king was cured of dementia by Gregory, who claimed to have been aided by divine forces, that he was set free and Armenia was declared a Christian country.
(A differently edited version of this article appeared in the 1st December 2019 issue of the Hindustan Times, India newspaper's Weekend supplement, on page III. https://www.hindustantimes.com/travel/travel-armenia-s-divine-underground-museum-is-a-legacy-of-love/story-Zok0VgI7s7IDWw1N65iRtL.html)
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