Armenian dug store for vegetables, but got carried away and built an underground temple

In 1985 the wife of Levon Arakelyan asked the wife to dig the potato pit. Lavon did not give up, but work was delayed for 23 years, and instead of the pit for vegetables make it a complete underground temple.

44-year-old Levon began to dig a hole under the house in his native village Arinj so that his wife could store potatoes. Over time the hole grew, and he decided to make it a wine cellar. But soon Levon had an underground temple, and the new plan became apparent.

23 he created his own underground world, using only a chisel and a hammer. First, the process was very slow — he waded through a layer of black basalt, the day he was able to only move 7 inches. So the last 10 years, but then came the tuff, and the work went wrong.

Volcanic stone oily consistency greatly facilitated the life of Levon. The process went so well that he decided to experiment with the decor and various patterns.

He worked 18 hours every day, cutting out entire rooms, hallways and stairways, coming down on the 20-meter depth. The lower areas of the temple located at a depth of 21 meters is the height of a 7-storey building.

Levon had a lot of time but little money, and therefore many decorations of his temple made of improvised means.

Levon died in 2008 at the age of 67 years, leaving the underground Church to his wife, Tosya. It's the unfinished work, he planned to devote another 30 years of life.

Now Tosya runs the place, which has already become a Museum. As exhibits there are the tools of her husband and buckets, which he emptied the unwanted stones. Stones themselves (about 450 trucks) was given at a local construction firm and used in various construction projects.

Tosya recognizes that often quarreled with Levon because of this cave. But a woman likes to recall that her husband had a great sense of humor.

Tosho becomes a little sad when she descends to the underworld, dug her late husband, but still she was grateful to him.