Armenia

Did you know?

• 🏛An ancient and picturesque nation at the crossroads of Europe and Asia in the southern Transcaucasus — a country of rich, millennia-old history, majestic mountains, and deep cultural heritage.
• 🏳️The modern flag (known as the Yeraguyn, or tricolor) was officially readopted in 1990, and its colors date back to the final period of the Rubenid dynasty (Cilician Kingdom). The red stripe represents the Armenian Highland, the people's continued struggle for survival, the maintenance of the Christian faith, and Armenia's independence and freedom — unofficially it also honors the blood shed by Armenian heroes. The blue stripe symbolizes the will and aspiration of the people to live beneath peaceful skies. The orange stripe (historically called 'apricot color') stands for the creative talent, immense energy and hard-working nature of the Armenian people.
• ⛪First Christian state in the world — Armenia was the first nation to adopt Christianity as its official state religion (in 301 AD under St. Gregory the Illuminator). Etchmiadzin Cathedral is an important early Christian cathedral and the seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
• ♟️Chess is a mandatory school subject — since 2011, chess has been a compulsory part of the curriculum in all primary public schools for children aged 6 and older. Students study the game as an academic subject and take official exams. Armenia is one of the world's most dominant chess-playing nations, with numerous grandmasters and Olympic titles.
• 🍇The world's oldest winery and oldest leather shoe — in the Areni-1 cave complex in southern Armenia, archaeologists discovered the earliest known wine-production facility, over 6,000 years old. In the same cave, scientists unearthed a perfectly preserved leather shoe officially recognized as the oldest single piece of leather footwear in the world (over 5,500 years old — older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids of Giza).