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WONDERS OF NATURE
Lake Sevan. Nature miracle
The largest in Transcaucasia and one of the largest alpine lakes in Europe - Sevan - lies in the heart of the Lesser Caucasus, surrounded on all sides by high mountain ranges. After all, the Lesser Caucasus is small only in name: its highest point, Greater Ararat, is only five hundred meters behind Elbrus. The height of the Geghama and Vardenis ridges rising above Sevan from the south side exceeds three and a half kilometers above sea level, and the northern border of the lake - the Shahdag ridge - is only two hundred meters lower. So above the turquoise bowl of the purest mountain water, called Sevan, its stone frame rises one and a half kilometers, although the lake itself is located at an almost two-kilometer height.
Sevan is the brainchild of formidable volcanic forces. Once the eruptions of fire-breathing mountains formed mighty ridges and blocked the valley between them with a natural lava dam. Twenty-eight rivers flowing from the slopes of the surrounding mountains filled the volcanic basin with water, forming one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. The beauty of Sevan is a bit harsh, even gloomy. The black slopes of the ridges contrast sharply with the blue water of the lake, and even the stingy silhouettes of ancient temples do not enliven the landscape, but add severity and formidable grandeur to it. It is no coincidence that the most beautiful sight in Sevan is probably summer thunderstorms over the endless expanse of this mountain lake. When thunder peals, echoing from the surrounding ridges, seem to fill a huge lake bowl to the brim, and oblique bands of downpours hang down from a dark, shimmering ominous blue cloud, between which dazzling white and yellow sunbeams break through gaps in the clouds, dancing on foamy waves Sevan, the traveler is involuntarily breathtaking from the spectacle of this wild and picturesque revelry of the elements on such a spectacular natural scene, and the heart shrinks from the feeling of some unearthly, fantastic beauty of the surrounding landscape. The map clearly shows that the lake consists of two unequal parts: Big and Small Sevan. Small - deep and cold. Yes, and it would be difficult for the sun to warm the hundred-meter thickness of lake water. Another thing is Big Sevan. The depths here do not exceed eight meters, and swimming somewhere near the rocky shores of the Artanish Peninsula is simply a heavenly pleasure. Warm water, sunny sky and hot pebbles of the beach make you forget about the height, and only the transparent mountain air, which cannot be breathed in either the Crimea or Sochi, brings the traveler back to reality. Once the banks of Sevan were covered with dense forests. But man settled here thousands of years ago, back in the days of the ancient kingdom of Urartu, and, of course, for thirty centuries there was little left of the green border of the lake. However, the volcanic landscape is picturesque in its own way and interesting for the traveler. The volcanoes of Armenia erupted by geological standards quite recently, maybe a thousand years ago. Therefore, lava flows, placers of volcanic bombs are perfectly preserved on the slopes of the ridges, and now silent craters are on the peaks. It is best to come to Sevan not from the south, from Yerevan, as most travelers do, but from the northwest, along the road leading from Tbilisi through the Semenov Pass. Almost two hundred years ago, the soldiers of the Semyonovsky regiment, exiled here for participating in the Decembrist uprising, built a road from Georgia to Armenia, perpetuating the name of their guard unit on the map of the Caucasus. The steep and winding serpentine of the mountain road will lead the tourist from the friendly resort town with the melodious name of Dilijan to the top of the pass. The car will lay turn after turn for a long time, approaching the desired saddle. Suddenly, as is often the case in the mountains, the ascent ends, and below, at the foot of the mountains, a huge expanse of water opens up to the eye, enclosed in a dark frame of mountain ranges. Sevan stretches for almost eighty kilometers in length, and reaches thirty in width. Once on the lake, the traveler often stops in bewilderment, not knowing where to direct his feet further. The harsh and deserted, but surprisingly picturesque northern coast of Sevan attracts lovers of wildlife, the western and southern shores of the lake will give meetings with antiquities and historical relics, and the ridges surrounding the lake will introduce you to the mighty world of volcanic elements. Cuneiform inscriptions have been preserved on the coastal rocks of Sevan, made by order of the ruler of Urartu, the victorious king of Drgishti, in memory of his military exploits in the XNUMXth century BC. By the way, the very name of Lake Sevan comes from the Urartian word Siunnu (“Lake Country”). True, some scientists believe that the name of the lake was born from the phrase "Sev vank" ("Black Monastery") and is associated with the Sevan Monastery built in 874 on the island. Eleven centuries have passed since then, the island managed to become a peninsula, but the ancient monastery still rises above the surface of the lake. It really was built of black and dark red stone, so this version has the right to exist. But the name Sevan, according to most historians, nevertheless appeared earlier than the XNUMXth century, and its Urartian origin is more plausible. The Sevan Monastery is not the only masterpiece of ancient culture on the shores of the lake. No less unique are the monuments of the ancient cemetery at Cape Noraduz. From the XNUMXth to the XNUMXth century, Armenian masters decorated it with stone tombstones, amazing with the beauty of filigree patterns. But, of course, once in Sevan, one cannot help but try to climb the mountains in order to directly feel the formidable grandeur of the "country of extinct volcanoes." Climbing the highest point of the Geghama Range - the Azhdahak volcano leaves an unforgettable impression on the traveler. From the top of Azhdahak, which rises to a height of three thousand six hundred meters, a stunning panorama of the Armenian Highlands opens: in the north and east, the azure mirror of Sevan sparkles, in the west - the four-headed jagged peak of Mount Aragats - the highest mountain in Armenia, and in the south, beyond the Arak River, white snowy peaks of Big and Small Ararat. No less interesting meetings with nature and history await the traveler behind the ridge. Just one day of hiking along a mountain path strewn with brick-orange volcanic slag and pieces of volcanic glass-obsidian - and you find yourself in the Geghard Gorge, famous for its unique cave monastery of the XNUMXth century, striking with the amazing acoustics of its main temple, entirely carved into the thickness of the rock. And after another ten kilometers, the traveler is transported from the Middle Ages more than a thousand years ago, to the ancient era, seeing a beautiful Hellenistic temple built in the XNUMXst century BC on a high cape above the gorge. To the east of the Black Sea there is no other similar building. The temple near the Armenian village of Garni stood for more than one and a half thousand years, after which it was destroyed by an earthquake. Now it has been restored and appears in all the splendor of its former grandeur. And along the slope of the gorge stretches a stunning natural colonnade of hexagonal basalt pillars of a hundred meters in height. The Azat River sawing through the frozen lava flow revealed to people the most beautiful creation of ancient volcanic forces, similar to which can only be found on the Kuril Islands or in the vicinity of the legendary Bridge of the Giants in Ireland. The river Hrazdan flowing from Sevan forms a picturesque gorge leading to the fertile and flourishing Ararat valley. At less than a hundred kilometers on its way, Hrazdan descends almost a kilometer, forming entire cascades of waterfalls. Naturally, a person could not help but try to use such a generous gift of nature, as soon as he felt the strength in himself to fight with her and put him at his service. The fate of Lake Sevan is a particularly vivid example of the power of modern technology, capable of destroying the most beautiful natural creations in the name of momentary gain. The fact is that in the 1940s, it was decided to drill a tunnel in the lava barrier of Sevan and drain most of the waters of the lake in order to generate the maximum amount of electricity at the cascade of power plants built below. The exposed bottom of the lake was supposed to be turned into fields and gardens. The Patriotic War prevented the implementation of the project in terms of the construction of a hydroelectric power station, and most of the water flowed away without use, and the lands reclaimed from Sevan turned into swamps with malarial mosquitoes. When reason nevertheless took over, a third of the lake had already been lowered. In order to maintain at least its current level, a fifty-kilometer tunnel had to be built under the most difficult conditions under the mountain range from the valley of the neighboring Arpa River, through which its water flowed into the depleted bowl of Sevan. Now the level of the lake can be kept stable, and the strip of beach exposed near the steep northern shore of Sevan, from the point of view of travelers, even added temptation to the rocky coast. The only pity is that the island with the monastery has now become a peninsula. So thoughtless intervention in nature sometimes leads to sad consequences. Fortunately, the hard times for Sevan seem to be behind us, and the marvelous lake will remain the most beautiful natural wonder of the entire Caucasian region. Author: B.Wagner
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