MOUNT ARARAT
Մասիս · MASIS · THE SACRED MOUNTAINMount Ararat rises over the Armenian landscape even though, today, it lies beyond Armenia’s borders. Visible from Yerevan on a clear day, its twin peaks have become one of the most enduring symbols of Armenia and Armenian identity.
MORE THAN A MOUNTAIN
For Armenians, Ararat is more than a geographic landmark. It is connected to ancient tradition, Christianity, ideas of homeland, and centuries of Armenian history.
THE MOUNTAIN OF NOAH
The Book of Genesis says that after the Great Flood, Noah’s Ark came to rest upon the “mountains of Ararat.”
Over time, Armenians came to identify the great mountain overlooking the Armenian highlands with the biblical story. By the Middle Ages, the connection between Armenians, Ararat and Noah was already deeply established. The Metropolitan Museum of Art notes that the 5th-century Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi traced the Armenian people through their legendary ancestor Hayk to Noah. Medieval Armenians even described themselves to outsiders through this connection to the Ark.
That history helps explain something Junior Explorers can see on Armenia’s coat of arms today: Mount Ararat with Noah’s Ark resting on its summit. The image is not merely decorative — it is written into the official description of the national emblem.
MASIS AND SIS
What we call Mount Ararat is actually dominated by two volcanic cones: Greater Ararat and Little Ararat. Armenians traditionally know the great peak as Masis and the smaller peak as Sis.
Greater Ararat reaches 5,137 meters (16,854 feet), and together the two peaks create the distinctive silhouette seen from much of the Ararat Plain and from Yerevan. The Met describes the two dormant volcanic cones as dominating the views south from Armenia’s capital.
Although Ararat is inseparable from the story of Noah in Armenian Christian tradition, its importance to Armenians extends beyond that story. The mountain has long served as a geographic and cultural marker of the Armenian homeland.
A MOUNTAIN ACROSS THE BORDER
There is one fact about Ararat that surprises many visitors to Armenia: Mount Ararat is not located within the borders of the modern Republic of Armenia. It is in present-day Turkey. Yet it remains visible from Armenia — and remains at the center of Armenia’s official coat of arms.
That creates one of the most striking images of modern Armenia: a mountain that is everywhere in Armenian culture — painted, photographed, written about and visible on the horizon — while physically standing across an international border.
For many Armenians, particularly after the Armenian Genocide and the upheavals of the early 20th century, Ararat also came to evoke the historic Armenian homeland and the experience of loss and displacement. Its continued presence on the horizon has helped make the mountain a symbol not only of faith, but also of memory, belonging and endurance.
THE FAMOUS “MOON” STORY
According to the tale, Turkey once objected to Soviet Armenia placing Mount Ararat on its coat of arms because the mountain was located in Turkey. The response supposedly came:
“Turkey has a crescent moon on its flag. Does that mean the moon belongs to Turkey?”
It is a wonderful story — but it should be treated as an anecdote, not established diplomatic history. Versions of the exchange have circulated for decades, and its exact origin and wording are uncertain.
Perhaps the reason the story survived is more interesting than whether the conversation happened exactly as told: it captures the unusual relationship between Armenians and a mountain that remains central to their national identity despite lying beyond the country’s present borders.
SEEING ARARAT TODAY
One of the most famous places to view Mount Ararat from Armenia is Khor Virab, the monastery associated with St. Gregory the Illuminator. From the monastery, the Armenian–Turkish border lies just beyond the surrounding plain, with Ararat rising dramatically behind it. On a clear day, it creates one of Armenia’s most recognizable views.
There is a nice connection inside your Explorer Guide, too: Junior Explorers meet Khor Virab again in Adventure 8, where they learn how St. Gregory was imprisoned there before Armenia’s conversion to Christianity.
ADVENTURE 8 · ST. GREGORY THE ILLUMINATORLOOK AGAIN
After learning the story of Ararat, look at Armenia’s coat of arms. At its center you will find Mount Ararat and Noah’s Ark, surrounded by the emblems of four historic Armenian royal dynasties. Armenia’s constitution specifically identifies both the mountain and the Ark as part of the country’s national symbol.
What began in the Junior Explorer Guide as a story about Noah is therefore part of a much larger story.
ARARAT IS A MOUNTAIN OF FAITH, HOMELAND, MEMORY AND ARMENIAN IDENTITY.
NINE ADVENTURES IN THE GUIDE
Pomegranates, khachkars, the Armenian alphabet, the church façade and more — every adventure has a page like this one.
