Epress.am News from Armenia
The official inauguration of the Tatev aerial tramway took place at 2 pm today. Participating in the ceremony were RA President Serzh Sargsyan; RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan; His Holiness Catholicos Garegin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; and many other high-ranking officials, both from Armenia and abroad.
The first passengers to board what is being billed as the world’s longest reversible passenger aerial tramway were Serzh Sargsyan, His Holiness Catholicos Garegin II, and 6 children from surrounding villages. The tramway will be open to the public beginning on Oct. 23.
The aerial tramway titled the Wings of Tatev, according to Tatev.am, is “an engineering miracle spanning 5.7 km over the deep and picturesque Vorotan River Gorge. [It] connects the two stations between two villages just as the Tatev Revival Project will bridge the past legacy of the Tatev monastery with the promising future of the region.”
The Tatev aerial tramway is just one part of the Tatev Revival Project which aims to develop tourism in Tatev monastery and the surrounding region in the southern Armenian marz (province) of Syunik.
Included in the project is the renovation of 26 kilometers of the road from Yerevan highway to the Tatev monastery, as well as reviving local cuisine and developing the surrounding 6 villages to welcome tourists to visit and stay a while.
A UNESCO World Heritage candidate, Tatev is one of Armenia’s oldest and most prominent monasteries and an academic center of unprecedented importance.