Photo Gallery: Nagorno Karabakh Republic

The "We Are Our Mountains" national memorial located near Nagorno Karabakh's capital city of Stepanakert depicts giant heads of an elderly couple from Artsakh, in traditinal Armenian headdress. The memorial, which is also referred to as "Grandpa and Grandma," symbolizes the tenacious attachment of the people of Artsakh to their land and culture, and points to their legendary longevity. The statute is made of Armenia's orange volcanic tuff stone and is widely regarded as one of the state symbols of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

October 2008: soon-to-be married couples lined up near the gate to the Gandzasar Monastery. The mass wedding was organized by Mr. Levon Hairapetian, a Russia-based philanthropist and representative of Armenia’s ancient Hasan-Jalalian dynasty.

A scene from the unprecedented wedding ceremony in October 2008 which married 675 couples from the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. The brides and grooms stand near the gate to the Gandzasar Monastery, with Mount Ishkhan and the Hohanaberd Castle seen on the background.