Armenia is a mountainous country in Southwest Asia. The majority of the population adheres to Orthodox Christianity. Tradition says that the apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew brought Christianity to the land of Armenians in the first century. The Kingdom of Armenia was the first in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD, two decades before the Roman Empire. This heritage is embodied in more than 4,000 Armenian Apostolic churches and monasteries scattered throughout the country. Armenia is a country of churches with unique architecture. Churches were primarily built high up to withstand earthquakes. An important part of Armenian architecture are chachkar stones – carved tablets built into church walls or scattered around the courtyard.