Part I: The Garni Gorge and Giant's Causeway: Two unique sites of Basalt Symphony.
Part II: The incredible Story of the Girona Spanish Armada warship wrecked in 1588 AD near Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland; The death of 1300 people on board and the recovery of its treasures.
Part III: The Hellenistic Garni Temple complex watching over the unique Garni Gorge near Yerevan, Armenia
The amazing fact about Northern Ireland's most popular tourist attraction is that it was almost unknown to the world and even to most Britons as late as 1730 AD. The Giant's Causeway today is a world renowned miles long natural miracle, but the site was strangely overlooked or simply misunderstood for centuries. Very few knew about its existence just 50 miles from Belfast in the County Antrim near the village Bushmills (famous for its Irish Whiskey distillery). Even fewer people seemed to care enough to inquire about or plan a visit to the Causeway. Some had seen sketches of the site, but the sheer size and beauty of the Causeway was still under a dark blanket of ignorance.
It is believed that it was only after a talented visitor painted some realistic sketches of the site and exposed them to a wider public in Dublin, that a general interest started to grow first in Britain and slowly across the Continent. Exactly how these wonderful various polygon shaped columns remained almost unknown is an enigma in itself. More than 40,000 almost perfect natural sculptures just across the sea from Scotland or from Liverpool and yet unknown to most of Europe and the rest of the World...
The symphony of Stones, First Movement: The Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland (Photo: Fabian Belza San)
Giant's Causeway is a natural geological wonder of volcanic basalt columns of various sizes and sheer cliffs created an estimated 50 million years ago as the area was rich in various volcanic eruptions. The molten lava from the Antrim plateau cooled and formed these wonderful columns, some reaching more than 12m in height (30ft). They are mostly hexagonal in shape, even though squares, pentagons, heptagons, octagons and other geometrical shapes are common. The site is just breathtaking and was included in the UNESCO World Heritage site list in 1986 as a "Rare and prime example of Earth's Evolutionary History". Moreover, the discovery of the wreck of the Spanish Armada galeass warship "Girona" in the nearby sea (with a large amount of the treasures and the 1300 victims that perished aboard in 1588) made the Giant's Causeway an even more famous destination with all due Celtic mysticism. (See Girona's story below, Part II)
Symphony of Stones, Second Movement: Garni Gorge in Armenia, just east of Yerevan.
The now World famous Giant's Causeway has also a lesser known cousin in distant Armenia, around 30 km east of the Capital Yerevan. The Garni (or Karni) Gorge is almost as mystical as its Irish cousin, but sits high in the mountains and not on a seaside location. The Gorge, thes wonderful basaltic polygon columns and the vertical cliffs are almost perfect, as if made by very talented human architects and artists working with play-dough. The Garni Gorge's unique location is even more unique by the perfectly restored 1st century Hellenistic temple and palace complex of Garni sitting just above the cliffs (see Garni Temple story below, Part III). Most visitors from around the world flock to the Garni temple and the UNESCO World Heritage site Geghard monastery complex and the upper Azat valley, only 7 km to the east. Both Keghart and Garni are therefore considered part of the one and same destination in the region called Gotayk (province), but unfortunately few take the time or have the knowledge, time or desire to visit the spectacular Garni Gorge. What a loss!
Descending to the Gorge and feeling the geological miracle casually called the "Symphony of Stones" is an adventure and a very unique destination in its own right. Few natural sites can offer that much grandeur and humbling simplicity. Giant's Causeway and Garni Gorge are in fact geological distant cousins, but part of the same majestic Basalt Symphony composed by the greatest Composers of all time: Mother Nature.
Both Garni and Giant's Causeway are believed to be millions of years old formations, 50 million by most estimates. The origins are of course volcanic eruptions, but what made these sites very unique was the particular cooling and solidifying processes of the boiling lava, which gave these almost perfect geometric forms and absurdly beautiful hanging columns. The rocks have multiple layers and show how the lava eventually solidified, shrunk and formed these shapes over long periods of time. Volcanic basalt is not the hardest of rocks, and therefore millions of years have also resulted in erosion and weathering, giving both these sites a very unique look. The Giant's Causeway offers a wide variety of shapes and structures and some were given different names depending their shape or the morphology. Names such as the "Giant's Gate", "The Granny", "The Chimney" and most appropriately, the "Organ" or "Organ pipes" are among the most famous. As stated, in case of Garny Gorge, a well accepted popular name for the wonderful ensemble is "Symphony of Stones".
The columnar basalts of the Garni and Giant’s causeway are not the only such sites in the world. Columnar and polygon shaped exposed basalt formation can be found in other corners of the world, such as in the Yellowstone national park or the Parana river or elsewhere in Asia. But few are as famous or accessible to the general public. In the case of Garni, the Hellenistic Temple complex and the nearby Keghart rock carved monastery make it a world class "must-see" destination anyway just a 45 minutes drive from Yerevan. Giant’s causeway can be easily reached from Belfast.
Who says Mother Nature is not a great musical composer or does not appreciate music? These supernatural natural Organ Pipes and their majestic surroundings are here to prove all doubters very wrong!
Nature's Organ Pipes...
Man-made Organ "Pipes of War" and "Pipes of Peace"...
As stated above, one other major reason why Giant's Causeway was included in the UNESCO World Heritage site list had nothing to do with that unique site's geology. UNESCO considers the site to also be of "outstanding cultural value" to the world because of the discovery of a Spanish military ship called the Girona (of the Spanish Armada) which was lost nearby in the aftermath of the Battle of the Gravelines in 1588. The Girona was sunk with 1300 victims aboard and loads of treasures while trying to make its way back to Spain after the disastrous campaign to invade England.
The story of the Spanish Armada and the escape from the battle of Gravelines to the the North (Scotland and Ireland) was not a beautiful affair. It was one of the key naval battles in World history that shaped the Europe's balance of power thereafter. The Spanish Armada was the huge naval fleet assembled and sent under the Duke of Medina Sidonia by the catholic monarch of Spain Philippe II with the clear intention invading and conquering England, deposing his Protestant half sister in law Queen Elizabeth in favor of the Catholic cousin Mary, Queen of Scots. The other geopolitical and economical reasons of course were much more complex, but conquering or at least punishing England was the immediate goal of the Spanish Monarch. His Spanish Armada was to sail first to the Low Countries (which were under Spanish rule), join an allied army under the Duke of Parma and help suppress the anti spanish secessionist movements there. The next phase would have been to attack "protestant" England by occupying the Thames river estuary leading to London.
The smaller English warships (left) chase the bigger, heavier and slower Spanish Armada galleons off Plymouth. The defeat of the Spanish Armada remains as the major event remembered of Queen Elizabeth's reign: Spain, Europe's mightiest Catholic power of the time were humiliated by the "Protestant". Spain and England were at opposite sides, both ideologically and commercially. England's support to rebellions in the Spanish-controlled Netherlands irritated Spain's empire and led to war.
The Vatican of course had thrown its full support behind the Spanish both morally and financially, hoping to fight these "heretic" Anglo-Saxon Protestants. The Pope and saw all these Spanish military schemes as a sort of a noble Crusade against the modern infidels. The lessons of the Crusades were hardly learned.
A seemingly magnificent fleet of 22 warships 108 militarized logistical merchant vessels was assembled and finally sailed north from Lisbon (under Spanish occupation), through the English channel with the intention of joining forces with Alexander Farnese's (Duke of Parma) allied army, therefore orchestrating the final assault on England across the La Manche (English Channel).
The Armada was spotted early on off Plymouth, England and was gradually chased by the British Navy under the leadership of Charles Howard and Francis Drake. After initial standoffs and chases, the Spaniards finally reached Calais and anchored in a very tight defensive formation followed by the English. The ensuing battle near the town of the Gravelines, near the modern French city of Dunkirk was not decisive as such but it did enough to destabilize and disperse the Armada, initially breaking their battle ready formations.
The famous fire-ship attack by the English created panic at Gravilines did the trick. The Spanish Armada fearing for the worst, had no choice but to disperse, somehow trying to regroup and manage an organized retreat or escape back to Spanish controlled lands. This forced "withdrawal" was a total catastrophe as it had to be done in the wrong direction: The Spaniard sailed further North to the open Atlantic ocean past Scotland and Ireland instead of heading south to Spain. They had initially failed to meet Parma's forces, and now they were facing the very heavy handed response of Mother nature in the Atlantic Ocean, trying to engineer an eventual return home sailing around the British Isles! It was a definite goodbye to any plans to attack London through the Thames river estuary and now it was a struggle to survive the hardships of being so far from the Motherland in uncharted waters for the Spanish.
Spanish ships, like most heavy warships of the day, were notoriously slow. Being so long at sea and more and more away from the Spanish territories, this fleet was bound to eventually encounter a storm. After having been defeated by the English at Gravelines, at least twenty-three of the King of Spain’s ships “flying from the wind and their enemies,” were wrecked on the rocky coast of northwest Ireland. Fearing a Spanish alliance with the catholic Irish, orders were issued to execute Spaniards coming ashore and the English immediately hanged all they could catch. Some 6,194 of the crews were reported drowned, killed or captured. But most of the Gaelic chiefs showed hospitality to the Spaniards and helped to send as many as they could of them home, creating a bond and a debt from King Philip. Those dark haired, brown eyed Spanish sailors who elected to remain in Ireland, married Irish girls and their progeny became known as "The Black Irish."(Macdonnelloffleinster)
The return to Spain of the Armada after the initial heavy losses was always to be very difficult. The Armada suffered even heavier losses on the return odyssey than at the Gravelines battle itself. More than 65 ships were eventually destroyed and wrecked and an estimated 20,000 lost their lives as the unusually heavy storms put a tragic end to this campaign and Grand Folly. The Armada was technically undefeated on the battlefront, but was practically decimated by Mother Nature.
The warship Girona sank near the Giant's Causeway (Port na Spaniard) on the night of October 26, 1588. It was a Mediterranean style galleass, or an oared fighting ship. It was a vessel of hope for other survivors eager to make it back safely to Spain.The ship originally had a complement of 121 sailors and 186 soldiers. However, while anchored for repairs on the rudder at Killybegs, harbor, Donegal, she came across about 1000 other Spaniards, the remnants of two Armada ships that had run aground. Rather than stay in Ireland where they were in danger of being found by English soldiers on the look of for Spaniards, the galleass Girona took everybody on board and sail for then Catholic Scotland. There they could rest, repair the ship and then set sail for Spain.
With the damaged rudder fixed the Girona sailed from Killybegs to the open sea but the rudder was again damaged in extremely bad weather. With fierce winds blowing the ship towards the shore, the Spanish tried to keep her from grounding by rowing. However, on the midnight of October 28 it run aground off Lacada point, a few hundred feet west of the Giant's Causeway and sunk. Of the estimated 1300 persons on board, less than 10 survived.
Hundreds of bodies were washed ashore and some were buried on St. Cuthbert's cemetery in Dunluce not far from the famous ruined castle, just west of Giant's Causeway.
The destruction of the galleass Girona is commemorated on the reverse side of banknotes printed by the First Trust Bank in Northern Ireland. Note the famous gold and ruby salamander recovered from the wreck in the lower right side (see also salamander picture below for more details).
The symbol of the Girona:This beautiful salamander pendant, of gold set with rubies, reflects the grandeur of the Spanish empire. Gold and silver from the Spanish conquests in the Americas were a primary source of income for the empire. Large numbers of splendid native gold ornaments were melted down for bullion but the ideas of South American craftsmen were often retained. This may explain the fondness for jewels in the form of animals, which appeared during the 16th century. In legend, the salamander was believed to have the magical properties of being able to extinguish and to survive fire - this made it a potent good luck charm on board a wooden fighting ship, where fire was one of the greatest hazards. (photo/credit: National Museums of Northern Ireland-Ulster museum)
Of the 130 Spanish ships that set out in 1588 to invade England, over 20 of them were wrecked off the North and West coasts of Ireland. The sunken Girona's wreck was discovered almost four centuries later in 1967 in a gulf near the Causeway. A team of mostly Belgian marine archaeologists since recovered what is thought to be the most valuable and unique treasures ever found in a wreck. The very rich haul of treasures were recovered, including gold trinkets, badges, money chains and more than 1200 gold and silver coins. It was the most important valuables ever recovered from a Spanish warship. Most of these incredible treasures are now are on display in Ulster museum in Belfast.
Map showing the route of the Armada fleet round Scotland and Ireland, by Augustine Ryther, 1588. The Girona was lost near the Giant's Causeway, in country Antrim in modern Northern Ireland (Photo: BBC British History in depth, Felipe Fernandez Armesto)
Part III: The Garni Gorge, under the watchful eyes of the Garni Temple complex
Garni (or Karni), the perfectly restored First century AD Hellenistic temple on the cliffs of the the Garni Gorge. The ruins of a 7th century church are at the foreground. The famous Gorge can be seen just behind the temple. The temple and the surrounding structures were used by successive dynasties. The pagan Godess Thetis was worshiped here.
The architectural complex of Garni was Armenia's foremost center of Hellenistic culture and the summer residence of Armenian kings. It was a fortress in the 3rd century BC and a temple was added in the 1st century AD. It is now within a village in the Kotayk district of Armenia, some 35 km southeast of Yerevan. The temple of Garni is one of the best wholly preserved Greco-roman temples in the area. It is thought to have been constructed mostly with roman money on the cliffs over the Garni gorge. The stones used in the construction of the temple is naturally the gray basalt and not white marble. Traditionally, Greek temples were made out of white marble but, here at Garni, the basalt stones were taken from a surrounding area. Basalt is a favorite of the Armenian sculptors, artisans and architects who knew very well how to cut the stones and use them in erecting temples, palaces and monuments.
It is believed that the Garni temple was first constructed as a testimony to the fact that the region had fallen under official roman rule, most probably during the reign of Emperor Trajan. The site at the edge of the cliffs of the Garni gorge made the area both very attractive and easily defensible against any attacks. The deep and famous gorge and steep mountain slopes were perfect for the defensive settings. The pagan goddess Thetis is thought to have been worshiped there both by Romans and Greeks.
The Garni fortress and temple complex stands on a strategics of Garni stands on a triangular cape, which dominates the locality and juts into the river. A deep gorge and steep mountain slopes serve as a natural impregnable obstacle, and therefore the fortress wall was put up only on the side of the plain. It was put together of large square-shaped slabs of basalt placed flat on top of each other without mortar and fastened together with iron cramps sealed with lead. The whole complex is in perfect harmony with Nature (SHS.2009.sci.am).
The temple ruins were first unearthed in 1909-1911 by Academicians Marr and Smirnov. Since 1949, an archaeological group under Professor Arakelyan (Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Armenian Academy of Sciences) has been at work here. As a result, the ruins of a Neolithic camp, a Urartian cuneiform text of the 8th century BC carved on a dragon, and inscriptions in Greek, Aramean and Armenian provide evidence of many centuries of uninterrupted human existence. A Greek inscription carved on a huge basalt block mentions the reconstruction of a fortress by King Tirdat. Garni also has a 5th century single-nave church outside the fortress walls and a 7th century domed church, cruciform on the inside but with a multiplane exterior, directly adjacent to the pagan temple. A 9th century building here is the vaulted sepulcher of the Catholicos Mashtots. A number of buildings inside the present-day village of Garni and its environs date back to the 11th-13th centuries. (Gregorz Blachuta)
Druid or pagan like Armenian women in front of the Garni Temple (Photo: Grzegorz Blachuta)
Garni Temple and the fortress are a sure testimony to the Hellenistic period and cultural influence in the first and second century BC. The initial fortress is said to have been built by Artaxerxes II while the temple was built by the Armenian King Tiridates (Dertad) using funds provides by Rome. After Christianity was adopted as state religion, the Garni complex became a summer residence of the Armenian Royals. Eventually the beautiful Hellenistic temple and other surrounding summer palaces and bath-like structures built at over centuries were abandoned, vandalized and sacked, most notably by the Turco-Mongol conqueror Tamerlane (a.k.a. Timur Lenk, 1370-1405 AD). During my visit I even saw a very old engraved graffiti at the right hand front side of the temple. It is thought to have been written by a Persian soldier (17th century? during the Persian occupation era). The soldier tells how homesick he is and dreams about his beloved homeland while he is still on military duty in remote Garni. I regret not having taken a photo of that memorable graffiti.
The whole Garni area was also devastated by the 1679 earthquake and fell into ruins.
Fortunately, most original pieces of the temple were left on site, and the reconstruction of the Garni temple to its original grandeur was accomplished in the mid 1970’s by a team led by architect Shahinyan. The missing pieces were replaced and today the temple is fully reconstructed. The other adjacent palace, defensive walls, baths and church all still lay in ruins.
It is unknown to me if there are enough original stones (above ground or still buried) on site enabling their eventual reconstruction, even partial. I am convinced more investment in archaeological work would unearth enough stones to at least partially reconstruct adjacent original structures.
The Garni village and the very picturesque Garni bridge in the jagged and precipitous canyon of the Azat river.
© Krikor Tersakian January 2010
All photo credits belong to their respective known and unknown authors.
