Today decided to go explore this unusual place which I randomly found looking at my map… LEVONS DIVINE UNDERGROUND… In Arinj around 20mins north from Yerevan city centre

I ordered a GG ride – 1600dr from centre and was dropped off at a random village street, the taxi had to drive around pot holes and really narrow streets to get there, the door was closed and I thought they weren’t open but my taxi driver saw a random bell and rang it, luckily they opened!

Arinj is a small village located north of Yerevan city centre

The Story…

In 1985, builder Levon Arakelyan’s wife asked him to build a cellar beneath their home, so she could store potatoes. It was a fairly simple task for an experienced 44-year-old builder. However, as he started the project, he literally couldn’t stop carving

Levon who built these caves all on his own by hand

Mr Levon, who was builder by profession, spent 23 years crafting the incredible 3,000-square-foot subterranean space and he was even working on the project on the day he died in 2009, aged 67

His daughter, Araxia, was my tour guide for the day which was awesome as I got to ask questions about the family first hand and she was just lovely

Rookie error! I totally forgot to take cash with me! I asked her where the atm was she says in Armenian “are you serious?? This is a VILLAGE, there isn’t any ATM” and laughed at me! But she trusted me enough to give me her bank details and told me to just transfer it at the bank when I got back to Yerevan, her mother, Tosya, was a bit harsher, she said she would chase me down if I didn’t transfer 🤣 she mentioned she was joking but I really had the feeling she wasnt lol they were such lovely people and I’m glad to have met them and had the chance to get to know them a bit

This is what Araxia showed me first as soon as I knocked on their side gate… It’s a 21m drop down to the bottom of the caves under their house!! (That little white circle at the bottom is someone’s head)
Araxia gave me a jacket as it got to -10 the further down you go! It was 38degrees outside and was a shock as I started seeing my breath as it got so cold down there
The caves just kept getting more interesting and twists and turns everywhere with intricate wall details and seperate rooms with high ceilings
Another intricate detail in another room

Araxia was saying that her dad did not follow a plan, he said that he got the ideas from a voice in his head guiding him on the design and where to dig, a place like this would most definitely need a plan as the rooms are all running around each other so digging in the wrong area would be dangerous

The stairs were all dug out as well and pock marks along all the walls – it definitely was as not made by machine, all hand made
This wall was all lined with columns and pillars carved all by hand… I just couldn’t get over it
Heading further downstairs – 21m was the deepest

The pathway led down one side and then back up another side to the kitchen area of the house they lived in

One room to the next to the next
Every room left me shocked and excited to be there
This was the altar area where he would meditate and pray and this room has a lot of high energies, he used to let whoever wanted to come down here and take those good energies hoping it would help them too
He used small stones in this room as ornamental for this altar space
Every room had its own personality

He had specific plans to carve another 74 rooms and tunnels, which would have taken him three more decades, he never accomplished his total dream

This is the area connecting to the house – on the right is the start of the caves and on the left leads up to the main kitchen where they have a little museum dedicated to their father
these are the tools he used to dig the caves, his wife said that they were all much longer when he started
The cave map drawn by his grandchild

I sat in the garden with the family after my tour and had a chat to the wife and the daughter about why and how he did this, the wife didn’t seem too happy about it as she said he spent the entire time digging and she said that she worked and kept the house hold, Araxia said that he felt that he had to do this for them and he was guided by something, as he envisioned that this would one day bring money to the family, and he was right! I assume they make quite a living but there still is that sadness in their eyes…hopefully I’m wrong!

I whole heartedly recommend visiting this place…