Day 8: The last stop of the participants of the “My Armenia” Pan-Armenian Festival in Artsakh was Shushi.

Kuwait’s Shakeh, Akhalkalak’s Vachyan, Volgograd’s Artuyt, Krasnodar’s Armavir, Ukraine’s Armenia, Sochi’s Nairi, Pyatigorsk’s Ani, Rostov’s Arpi and Lipeck’s Krunk Dance Ensembles visited the mother temple of Shushi, that is, the St. Ghazanchetsots Church.

Charmed by the beautiful architecture, the members of the dance ensembles lit candles, took photos and discovered a wonderful phenomenon that was perhaps the most impressive for them.

Deacon Ararat accompanied them as they entered one of the underground rooms of the church, that is, the confessions room, which is known to be mysterious. It’s a semi-circular room, but is acoustic due to the architectural solution. As you stand in the center and look toward the hole in the ceiling and speak, the sound of your voice is relatively higher than the sound you hear in your ears. Amazed at this wonder, the participants were murmuring this or that word. However, later, the more spontaneous Diaspora Armenians started singing “Ter Voghormya” and the “Patriarchal Wish”…The melodies of the spiritual songs could be heard under the arches of the church for a while, and not only the smell of the burning candles, but also the participants’ songs and prayers with sadness and longing were like a prayer to God from the Ghazanchetsots Church.

The Ghazanchetsots Church, the confessions room and the symbolic song became instilled in the participants’ souls, and all this became one of the beautiful days that the participants have been spending in Artsakh…

Lusine Abrahamyan

Shushi