World's longest reversible passenger aerial tramway launched

October 16, 2010 - 14:25 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - On October 16, 2010, the Tatev Revival Project was launched in Tatev, Syunik province of Armenia, marked by the official inauguration of the world's longest reversible passenger aerial tramway.

The first passengers of the tramway were Serzh Sargsyan, President of the Republic of Armenia, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, and Bekor Papazyan, the Executive Director of the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia, as well as 7 children from the nearby villages.

The event brought to the ancient land of Tatev hundreds of invitees throughout the world, many of them private donors, whose generous contributions called to life an audacious concept of revival and development.

Back in 2008, more than one hundred people of different nationalities and religions united around the idea of the rejuvenation of the Tatev monastery, under the leadership of the Ruben Vardanian and Veronika Zonabend's Tatev Foundation. The implementation of the Tatev Revival Project was entrusted to the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia, an organization based on the public-private partnership model. Today, all these people came to witness the first and important outcome of their devotion - the world's longest aerial tramway built and ready to pass on the baton to further development initiatives.

Titled the Wings of Tatev, this engineering miracle spanning 5.7 km over the deep and picturesque Vorotan River Gorge, 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.

It took 11 months to build the aerial tramway. The construction was carried out by the Swiss-Austrian Garaventa Doppelmayer Group, the world leader in the accessibility industry. With a total cost of EUR 13 million, the Wings of Tatev has made the 9th century Tatev monastic complex accessible for visitors all year round. Now, not only it will serve the local communities free of charge, but will also attract numerous tourists from around the globe. Together with the tramway, the event will showcase an important cooperative outcome between the public and private sectors, a model which has proven to be workable and efficient for such major undertakings. In this way, 26 kilometers of the road from Yerevan highway to the Tatev monastery was also renovated by the Government of Armenia within the scope of the Tatev Revival Project.

The event will also feature some of the already launched or completed initiatives, such as the restored 17th century Oil Mill, or Dzit-han, national cuisine revival initiative, ecotourism development project and more.

A UNESCO World Heritage candidate, Tatev is one of Armenia's oldest and most prominent monasteries and an academic center of unprecedented importance. Because of its architecture, its history and its spectacular natural setting, it is also an invaluable asset with the potential to catalyze tourism development in the region. The $50 million Tatev Revival Project aims to combine the monastic and touristic significance of the complex, in order to develop the region into an attractive destination nestled in a prospering local community. The project consists of several components: conserving the monastery, reviving its monastic and scholarly traditions, developing tourism products in the adjacent river gorge and six communities, and building tourism infrastructure.