View of Mush

The photograph shows the city of Mush in the past. Many houses stand close together on a slope, their roofs and the surrounding hillside covered with snow.

For centuries Mush was a major Armenian cultural and spiritual centre. At the beginning of the 20th century more than 10,000 Armenians lived here. After the Armenian Genocide the city’s Armenian population almost completely disappeared, and most of its historic buildings were destroyed. Despite this, the few Armenian families who remain today try to preserve the memory and cultural traditions of their ancestors.