Memorial

In April of 1915 the Ottoman Government began the genocide of the Armenians living in their empire.  Over the next few years over one and a half million Armenians died, the few remaining were scattered to many different countries.  Every year on April 24th the Armenians remember those who died.  We arrived in Armenia on April 25th and went to the memorial that afternoon.

It is a long walk up to the leaning pillars.

 

Each person who comes to remember brings flowers to place around the eternal flame.  We were amazed at the amount of flowers.

 

 Many come to pay tribute to those who died.
There are many youth groups who take the petals off of the flowers and then spread them out to dry.  Then they use the petals in their handmade paper.  The paper is put into beautiful books that are set out for the visitors to write there thoughts about visiting the memorial.

 Visiting the Armenian Genocide Memorial was a good way to start our mission.  It reminds us of the hardships that the people have gone through and their resilient spirit.