We go down the dirt steps. There are artificial lamps on the walls that barely dispel the darkness, there are sculptures, corridors and rooms that follow each other like a labyrinth, corners furnished with antiques… We are in the village of Arinj, in the underground cave of Levon. In 1985, grandfather Levon decided to fulfill his wife’s request and dig a hole to store potatoes. The 80-cm hole intended for potatoes turned into a 21-meter underground cave, which became a museum during the master’s lifetime and hosted guests from different parts of the world.

“He entered this room one day and didn’t come out for 23 years,” says Mrs. Tosya, the wife of master Levon (after the master’s death, she greets visitors to the cave).

• For 23 years, every morning he put on these clothes, took a hammer and a pickaxe and started digging until late at night. He would go out at night, sleep for a few hours, go back to work in the morning… He would say: “I had a dream, God ordered me to do this work.”

The underground museum is 21 meters deep, 7 rooms are connected by stairs and corridors. Creating the museum was not easy. Mrs. Tosya tells that after several years of digging, the pick came against the basalt stone, and for days master Levon could not overcome the “power” of the stone and move forward. Faith helped the master again.

One day he woke up, went downstairs and carved a cross on the black basalt, – says Mrs. Tosya, – after that he carved every day without stopping.

In the lobby of the house, photos of famous people who visited the museum and gifts brought to Grandfather Levon from different parts of the world are displayed. The valuable toolbox was donated by Canadian tourists. Master Levon, however, never got hold of them.

He only dug with a hammer and a pick, he said: I don’t need those expensive tools. That’s how he dug everything himself, brought lighting, turned it into a museum, says Mrs. Tosya. And his eyes are filled with excitement – At that time, I scolded a lot, I said, “You left the care of the whole family on me, I was doing the work both inside and outside, I raised four girls alone… But now every visitor admires what he has created.” said Levon with difficulty and great faith. The yard of the house was also touched by the master’s hand. Grandfather Levon created the images of himself and his wife with stones from the underground cave.

• I was more interested in “creating” than he was, – says Mrs. Tosya and added, – when they asked me why I wanted to sculpt your wife like this, you are so big, Levon said, how did I see my wife 23 years ago? “Jahel, that’s how I carved it.” Grandfather Levon has been gone for several years. But there is the magnificent cave of his hand, where every visiting tourist is interested like me.
• Mrs. Tosya, where do you keep the potatoes? Do you have a father?
• No, dear girl, he didn’t manage to dig…