BUYRAKAN / ARMENIA
37 mins north from Yerevan
In 2005, the Armenian Alphabet celebrated its 1600th bday!
In commemoration 39 giant carved Armenian letters were placed near his final resting place of Mesrop Mashtots

When Mashtots began working on an Armenian alphabet, it was under great pressure so that it could be used to create a bible for the newly Christian kingdom. Mashtots laid out the structure of the alphabet around the religion. He made the first letter A, which was the first letter in the word Astvats, or God, and the last letter K’, which began the word K’ristos, Christ. He then put the finishing touches on the last 34 letters and his system has been used ever since, aside from the addition of 3 more letters












