Historic Buildings | Armenia – Edge of Humanity Magazine

Architectural and Fine Art Photographer Michael Glenister is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of these images. From the ‘Historic Sites’series. To see Michael ’s body of work, click on any photograph.

One of the great privileges of being able to travel is to discover and understand that each country – each society has its own unique history and its own understanding of what it means to be human at any given moment in time.

Armenia is no exception to this maxim. Armenia has a rich and ancient history which can be traced back to at least 4000 BC. My intention with this series of images was to capture some of the ancient buildings which reflect this history. The oldest of these is the Temple of Mithras (the sun god) which it is estimated was built around 64BC and the most recent, Republic Square, was completed between 1950 and 1977 when Armenia formed part of the former USSR.

When I photograph buildings, I often remain quiet for long periods and wait for the buildings to “speak to me.” What was striking about some of the old monasteries in Armenia was that some of them seemed to scream – perhaps an indication of the blood that had been shed within their walls during various wars and eventually the genocide of 1915-1918. There was one monastery complex that I visited that I could not bring myself to photograph. The series culminates with a photograph of the Armenian genocide museum with its flame that burns 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.