The Catholicos's Secret — Lake Sevan's Hidden Resistance

Your quest begins at Sevanavank Monastery, on the Sevan Peninsula, a site on UNESCO's Tentative List since 2002. According to Armenian tradition, this complex was founded in 305 by Queen Mariam, wife of King Tiridates III, who established Armenia as the first Christian nation. You enter the Sourb Arakelots Church, built in 1601 by Prince Melikset, whose 5m diameter dome testifies to 16th-century architectural ingenuity. Your phone reveals the first puzzles, hidden in the details of this historic structure, which was a vital spiritual center for the Gegharkunik region.

A short walk away, less than 200m, stands the Sourb Astvatsatsin Church, built in 1832. Its classic Armenian domed architecture and 19th-century interior frescoes, depicting the Virgin Mary and apostles, immerse you in a more recent period of Sevan's history. Restored in 1968, it is among the national Armenian monuments whose preservation is essential. Around the monastic complex, you examine the 16th-century khachkars, these sculpted cross-stones, true lapidary artworks, which may hold clues left by monks of old. The site offers breathtaking views of Lake Sevan, at an altitude of 1914m.

Descending from the peninsula, once an island connected to the shore since 1935 by the receding water level, you walk along Lake Sevan. Armenia's largest lake, its 1235 km² surface at an altitude of 1897m was lowered by 20m between 1920 and 1940 for irrigation, a fact that transformed the Gegharkunik landscape. Designated a Ramsar site since 1993 for its aquatic biodiversity, particularly the endemic ishkhan, it is literally the 'Black Sea of the Highlands', a name attested since antiquity. Your journey takes you through this environmental and cultural history of Sevan.

Your investigation then leads you to the Sevan Cultural Center, built in 1985 to commemorate 1700 years of Armenian Christianity. This building, with a 300-seat hall, houses a local museum displaying khachkar artifacts and historical photos of the lake dating from 1870 to 1930. Located in the heart of the city, 1.2 km from the monastery via the main P. Sevak street, it also preserves the archives of the Armenian Catholicosate concerning Gegharkunik. It is here that the fragments of information you have collected begin to make sense, revealing the true scope of the Catholicos's secret.

Heading towards Sevan Central Square, the administrative and commercial hub of the Gegharkunik district, you pass through an urban landscape marked by Soviet-era buildings from the 1930s-1950s, typical of Stalinist Armenian architecture. A weekly local market offers products from Lake Sevan, including fish and handicrafts. Finally, your journey concludes at Sevan Marina, developed in the 1970s for nautical tourism. Once a departure point for traditional boats to Sevanavank until 1990, it now hosts the annual Ishkhan fish festival in August. You have reconstructed the hidden chronicle, linking ancient legends to the contemporary realities of Sevan, a city rooted in a millennia-old heritage and a vital Ramsar site.