When the snow melts, the village of Geghakar restores its connection with the world.

A nearly impassable road is the only link with the outside, and when nature closes it, Geghakar about 75 miles northeast of Yerevan hibernates until spring.

Until 1989, the village – formerly called Yenikend – was one of the richest cattle breeding areas of the Gegharkunik region. It was an Azeri settlement until then. But its population and its livestock industry and a lot of other things changed when Azeris were no longer welcomed across the nearby border, and vice versa.

Full story

There was a day when along the shores of Lake Sevan, roofs made of thatch were the common means of using nature to protect from nature.

Like the picturesque cottages for which Ireland would become famous, Armenian country homes were perhaps less glamorized but no less served by roofs made of earth.

Older residents in villages such as Aghibiuradzor remember that until the 1950s the use of earthen roofs was common. Fifty years later, the distinguishing feature of Armenian culture hasn’t completely disappeared.

Full story