Mashtots Hayrapet Church of Garni, Garni

Mashtots Hayrapet is a church located within the village of Garni in the Kotayk Province of Armenia. It was built in the 12th century at the site of what was a pagan shrine. A stone carved from red tufa is situated at the right of the entrance upon a low rock wall. It has on it the design of a bird perched on a floral stem with the rosette of eternity under its tail. The rosette is also a distinctive pagan symbol representing the sun or the moon, symbolizing the eternal cycle of life, death, and rebirth. It is said that because of this pagan symbology, this stone has a connection to the prior shrine. ()