The monastery of Khor Virap with Ararat in the distance. The closed Turkish-Armenian border runs a few hundred metres beyond the monastery
PHOTOGRAPHS JUSTIN FOULKES @justinfoulkes
AFTER 150 DAYS AFLOAT ON the water, Noah, his family and all the animals heard a loud crunch as the Ark hit dry land. They had arrived on a little island – which, as the waters receded, turned out not to be an island at all, but the tip of an immense mountain. The mountain was called Ararat, and it towered high over a rocky landscape.
After some months the world was dry again, and Noah’s family and animals descended (many seizing the opportunity to trot off to warmer and/or more exotic parts). But legend tells that Noah’s great-grandson, Hayk, stayed put in this stony land, and founded Armenia. It would become the first Christian nation on Earth.