Rediscovering Armenia Guidebook- Introduction

§ Preface

This is an in-depth inventory of the settlements and historic sites in Armenia and Artsakh - the first of its kind in English. Please do not confuse this with a guidebook like Lonely Planet. There are no hotel or restaurant listings, there is no bus or transportation information, virtually none of the practical info one would expect from a typical guidebook. There are a number of guidebooks that deliver that practical information and the tourist highlights of the region, but that is not what this book is about. This book is for those who want an accounting of every village, and virtually all of the historic monuments known to exist in the region - including many that are quite minor.

The original text of the Armenia section was written by Brady Kiesling, which I used for my own in-depth exploration of Armenia. I began to edit and expand the text over the years, and also added a chapter on Artsakh, which was not included in Brady's original text. First published on paper in 2001, with a second edition in 2005, this third edition marks my massive expansion of the Artsakh section, which has begun to rival the Armenia text in length, and reflects other changes in routes, place names, and other details in the past 14 years. It truly has been a labor of love, with both Brady and I undertaking this effort in hope of enticing curious explorers to visit some of Armenia's lesser-known but worthy sites.

While parts of Brady's original preface are out-of-date, the following excerpt explains his reasons for undertaking the project:

This guide was designed for several purposes, but its central goal is simply to exist, as a first taste of Armenia in English for enthusiasts willing to invest some attention in this country during a difficult transition period. I believe that tourism development will play an important role in Armenia’s economic rebirth, a rebirth many brave souls are helping to achieve. Second goal is to empower independent travel, not dependent on a paid guide or interpreter, to allow curious visitors to navigate the often unsignposted hinterland. A third goal is to encourage interest in Armenia’s antiquities by English-speaking scholars. A fourth, expressed through the choice of material, is to preserve some record of the wrenching demographic changes that have taken place since 1988, to preserve some traces of a once multi-ethnic landscape. A final goal is to repay through some hope of future economic development the dozens of ordinary Armenians, scattered across the landscape, who opened their homes, larders and hearts to a disheveled traveler on foot, bicycle or battered station wagon, speaking mangled Armenian and looking for monasteries. As the after-hours work of a non-specialist who has visited many but far from all the sites mentioned, this guide not a complete archaeological, historical, cultural and/or practical guidebook to Armenia. It is only as accurate as its sources, some of which are vague or contradictory.

§ Sources and Methods

Brady Kiesling:

Original starting point for the Armenia chapters was the official list of communities and number of registered voters published in electronic form by the Armenian Central Election Commission (funded by IFES and USAID) following the 1998 Presidential elections (major population shifts have occurred in Armenia since the last Soviet census in 1989, published results of which were in any case was not conveniently to hand). These place names, which have changed in a series of waves since 1921, most recently after the mutual ethnic cleansing of 1988-89, were compared against Soviet General Staff maps (1978) and more recent maps of Armenia, and the names were then looked up in the Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia or, in a more sophisticated stage, the five volumes of the Dictionary of Armenian Place Names. This latter work contains a huge amount of information and is an invaluable reference. Many inscription translations were derived from Khachatrian’s French version. It seemed important to include as many translated inscriptions as I had strength for: in most cases the donors of a church ask to be remembered in our prayers, and it would seem churlish to refuse.

This research was sometimes followed, sometimes preceded, by long drives in the countryside, sometimes alone, sometimes in the company of patient friends and colleagues. The results are erratic and incomplete of course, despite friendly contributions by many wonderful people (See below). As a work in progress, in flexible electronic form, it will, I hope, continue to expand and evolve through the contributions of all those interested in the land of Armenia.

Raffi Kojian:

Sources and work on the Artsakh text were methodical and consistent, and are outlined separately in that section. Updating the Armenia text entailed much more chance, as it was often sparked by research before or discoveries during travels, or by coming across a text, book, website, article, or photo of a site that was either unfamiliar or gave additional information. The secret Soviet military maps, the Dictionary of Armenian Place Names, and later on Google Earth, Wikipedia and other electronic sources not available in 2001 were some of the important sources for the updates and additions.

§ Acknowledgments

Thanks to Dr. Aram Kalantarian, Director of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences, and to Boris Gasparian of the same Institute, two scientists who generously shared their time and expertise, and would have shared more had I been efficient enough to make better use of them. Boris spent sleepless nights making the archaeological component more detailed and rigorous than it would have been. Many thanks to the State Administration for Protection of Historic and Cultural Monuments, whose Director, Dr. Gurjian, and Mrs. Melania Dovlatian, chief of Vayots Dzor Marz, offered invaluable encouragement, information, and hospitality. Some marz and local officials have provided information, and throughout Armenia we have benefited from the hospitality and generosity of dozens of local citizens and informal guides. Especial thanks to my U.S. Embassy companions along the way, particularly to Political Assistant Alla Bakunts and Economic Officer Jeff Horwitz, whose (respectively) patience and Niva I abused on many adventures. Dr. Levon Avdoyan of the Library of Congress was the finder of many obscure publications. I am much indebted from afar to Professor George Bournoutian, whose published works have recently made available a treasure of documentation on Armenia in the 19th century. I take cheerful responsibility for all mistakes of fact or interpretation. -Brady Kiesling

§ Rating system and GPS coordinates

Brady's original rating system consisted of placing two asterisks after a place name (**) for a place that struck him as unforgettable. One asterisk (*) signaled a place worth a detour. Absence of stars either meant he had not been there, or the site did not offer very much in his opinion, and he still encouraged exploration. I have for the most part replaced that system with a scale of 0-100 for many of the sites in the book that seem worthy of a visit. The rating is proceeded with a star to make it stand out in the text as a noteworthy (or rather visitworthy) spot. A solid black star is for sites I rated 70 or above, while a white star is for places rated lower. Some places with a white star have no numeric rating, they are simply nice sites that may be worth visiting if you're in the area. If there is a + sign after the number, that means an Armenian might rate the site higher than the given number, due to the historical significance of the site for Armenians. A question mark after the number means I have not been to the site, and am basing the rating on photos. The ratings are completely subjective, but hopefully they can serve a helpful purpose. Eg. Tatev Monastery ★100 is located in...

If a site is a bit harder to find on maps or roads, the GPS coordinates may be included in special brackets after the site rating like this: ⟪40.15524, 44.5095⟫. Pasting that into any mapping system will yield the exact location.

§ Abbreviations, Italics, Bold

A number of abbreviations have been used to make the text more compact. For the most part they should be self-explanatory, but I will share some of the most common for the sake of extra clarity. 18c = 18th century. N S E W = North/Northern, South/Southern, East/Eastern, West/Western. 240p = 240 population.

Italics means either the passage is a quote, or it is a transliteration from Armenian. In the Artsakh section, many placenames have been underlined, indicating that they are more minor sites, not warranting bold.

§ Dating Armenian Monuments (The Armenian Alphabet and its Transliteration)

Knowledge of the Armenian alphabet is useful but not essential for appreciation of Armenia's cultural patrimony. However, one sure way to impress on-lookers, including local worthies, is by deciphering the date on medieval inscriptions. Dates are generally marked by the letters ԹՎ or the like, often with a line over, indicating "t'vin" ("in the year") followed by one to four letters, each of which stands for a number based on its order in the alphabet. In the Middle Ages, Armenians used a calendar that started in AD 552 as the beginning of the Armenian era. To translate into standard years, simply add 551 to the number. Thus, should you see an inscription reading ԹՎ ՈՀԳ, simply check the alphabet table below and see that this equals 600+70+3+551= the year of Our Lord 1224.

Upper Case	Lower Case	Number Value	Roman Alphabet	Upper Case	Lower Case	Number Value	Roman Alphabet
Ա	ա	1	a	Ճ	ճ	100	ch
Բ	բ	2	b	Մ	մ	200	m
Գ	գ	3	g	Յ	յ	300	y
Դ	դ	4	d	Ն	ն	400	n
Ե	ե	5	e, ye	Շ	շ	500	sh
Զ	զ	6	z	Ո	ո	600	o, vo
Է	է	7	e	Չ	չ	700	ch'
Ը	ը	8	schwav	Պ	պ	800	p
Թ	թ	9	t'	Ջ	ջ	900	j
Ժ	ժ	10	jh	Ռ	ռ	1000	rr
Ի	ի	20	i	Ս	ս	2000	s
Լ	լ	30	l	Վ	վ	3000	v
Խ	խ	40	kh	Տ	տ	4000	t
Ծ	ծ	50	ts	Ր	ր	5000	r
Կ	կ	60	k	Ց	ց	6000	ts'
Հ	հ	70	h	Ւ	ւ	7000	u
Ձ	ձ	80	dz	Փ	փ	8000	p'
Ղ	ղ	90	gh	Ք	ք	9000	k'
					և		yev, ev
				Օ	օ		o
				Ֆ	ֆ		f

§ Dates

The sequence of historical periods I use for Armenia is inconsistent but roughly as follows, with precise dating still subject to scholarly debate:

Prehistoric:

Paleolithic	2,000,000 - 12,000 BC	(open-air workshops, cave sites,
Mesolithic	12,000 - 8000 BC	with stone, bone tools)
Neolithic	8000 - 6000 BC	(early agriculture sites)
Chalcolithic	6000 - 3500 BC	(first copper implements)
Early Bronze Age	3500 - 2000 BC	(black burnished pottery)
Middle Bronze Age	2000 - 1500 BC	(red-burnished painted pottery)
Late Bronze Age	1500 - 1200 BC	(Cyclopean fortresses)
Early Iron Age	1200 - 850 BC	(first iron implements)

Historic:

Urartian/Van Kingdom	800 - 585 BC	(links to Assyrian culture)
Early Armenian Kingdom	585 - 330 BC	(Median/Achaemenid influence)
Hellenistic/Orontid	330 - 201 BC
Artashesid	189 BC - 1st c. AD
Arsacid	66 - 428 AD	(also Roman, Parthian, Sasanian)
Early Christian	4th - 6th c. AD
Medieval	7th - 16th c. AD	(Arab, Seljuk, Mongol, Turkmen, Ottoman)
Persian	17th - 18th c. AD
Russian Imperial	19th c - 1917 AD
First Republic	1918 - 1921 AD
2nd Soviet Republic	1921 - 1991 AD
3rd, Independent, Republic	1991 - Present

§ Archaeological Etiquette

It is illegal in Armenia, as in most other places, to export cultural patrimony without a license, obtained from a special commission of the Ministry of Culture. In almost no case will export of antiquities be licensed. Many ancient sites in Armenia are still strewn with potsherds, obsidian tools (“Satan’s fingernails” in colloquial Armenian) and other small finds. With next to no commercial value in any case, wrenched from their context they lose their scientific value as well. These should be picked up, fondled, photographed, and replaced, both as a courtesy to future tourists and scholars and to avoid expensive embarrassment at the border. May apes void on the ancestral sepulchres of any reader of this work who defaces Armenia’s battered but beautiful patrimony with graffiti or trash.

§ Note on Transliteration

The Latin alphabet is poorly adapted to exact rendering of Armenian names. Basic approach in this guide is generally phonetic, to produce a rough approximation of the standard pronunciation of Eastern Armenian. Word stresses tend to be more evenly distributed than in English, but with the greatest stress almost always on the final syllable. Note that GH is pronounced like a French "r", voiced from the back of the mouth. KH is a raspy, unvoiced consonant like the German ch in "Ach." The CH combination is used for two distinct letters, one the CH in "church", the other somewhere between "church" and "jug". Few American ears can tell the difference in real time between these three Armenian consonants, nor between aspirated and unaspirated K/K’, P/P’, and TS/TS’. Armenian does not usually write out the short, colorless vowel like the vowel sound of the second syllable in "trouble." When you see a series of impossible consonants together, you should add that short vowel in between, e.g., Mkhchian is pronounced more like "mUHkh-chyAHn, except the first syllable is shorter than American "Uh..."

A lot of old place names are Turkish, but Turkish with a local (Azerbaijani) dialectal pronunciation. Turkish "k" tends to turn into Armenian "gh." Turkish also has the same short, colorless vowel as Armenian, depicted with an undotted "i" in Turkish but omitted in Armenian. Thus, Turkish "Kara" (Black) becomes Ghara, and "Kizil" (Red) becomes Ghzl in Turkish transliterated into Armenian transliterated into English. Apologies for the consequent difficulties in figuring out what is where and how to pronounce it.

§ Armenian Terms Useful for Getting Lost With

Features			Directions
Dzor	Gorge		Hyusis	North
Hovit	Valley		Harav	South
Sar	Mountain		Arevelk	East
Blur	Hill		Arevmutk	West
Lanj	Slope, hillside		Ughigh	Straight
Kar	Stone		Ach	Right
Karandzav	Cave		Dzakh	Left
Lernanstsk	Pass		Verev	Up
Aghbyur	Spring		Nerkev	Down
Get	River		Ayn Koghm	Beyond
Ap	Riverbank		Aystegh	Here
Antar	Forest		Ayntegh	There
Tsar	Tree		Descriptions
Dasht	Field		Verin	Upper
Vank	Monastery		Storin	Lower
Yekeghetsi	Church		Mets	Big
Jham	Church		Pokr	Small
Gavit	Narthex of church		Hin	Old
Matur	Shrine/chapel		Nor	New
Khachkar	Carved stone cross		Vat	Bad
Gerezmanatun	Cemetery		Lav	Good
Dambaran	Tumulus burial		Layn	Wide
Amrots	Fort		Negh	Narrow
Berd	Castle		Hart	Smooth
Caravanatun	Caravansaray		Geghetsik	Beautiful
Janaparh	Road		Tgegh	Ugly
Khachmeruk	Intersection		Surb	Sacred/Saint
Kamurch	Bridge		Commands
Gyugh	Village		Tekvek	Turn
Kaghak	City		Nayek	Look
Tun	House		Yekek	Come
Shenk	Building		Nstek	Sit
Ardzanagrutyun	Inscription		Gnank	Let’s go
			Questions
	Ur e tanum ays chanaparh'			Where does this road go?
	Vonts gnam vank'			How do I go to the monastery?

Other useful terms:

• Militant Hospitality - hospitality offered so forcefully, it can feel impossible to refuse
• Shepherd's Blow - when a shepherd blows his nose by covering one nostril and projectile launching the mucous out of the other nostril.
• Mamikonian's Revenge - any case of traveler's diarrhea contracted by tourists visiting Armenia or Karabakh.
• Monastery Fatigue - the feeling some travelers get after visiting over a dozen monasteries in a day. The English may call additional monasteries ABC's. Another bloody church.

§ Geography

Armenia's two most outstanding geographical features are its mountains and Lake Sevan. Most of the country lies between 1,000 and 2,500m elevation, with the lowest point being 500 meters. The highest point in the Republic is the peak of Mt. Aragats, at 4090m. The capital Yerevan is located on the large, dry Ararat plain which is about 1,100m above sea level. Although Armenia is landlocked, Lake Sevan takes up about 5% of the countries surface area and is found at a very high elevation, nearly 2,000m. The waters are crystal clean, often blue or turquoise, and always cold. Below is a list of the highest peak on each of Armenia's mountain-chains.

MOUNTAIN PEAKS

Aragats	4090m	Aragats Massif
Kaputjukh	3906	Zangezur Chain
Ajhdahak	3598	Geghama Chain
Mets Ishkhanasar	3549	Karabakh Chain
Vardenis	3522	Vardenis Chain
Aramazd	3392	Bagrushat Chain
Bagats-sar	3250	Meghri Chain
Khustup	3214	Khustup-Katar Chain
Legli	3157	Javakh Chain
Gogi	3113	Hayotsdzor Chain
Tej-ler	3107	Pambak Chain
Mets Gukasyan	3049	Egmakhag Chain
Bovakar	3016	Khalabak Chain
Urasar	2994	Bazum Chain
Murguz	2993	Murguz Chain
Kashatakh	2901	Sevan Chain
Arayi-ler	2576	Arayi Massif

§ Jokes

A few revealing jokes about Armenians.

Inventive Armenians

Armenians are very proud of the disproportionate success of their people around the world, and some of the many things they've invented or been among the first to adopt. The Georgians, living next door, may have heard these stories one too many times, and invented the following joke about it:

Archaeologists in Georgia were digging up a 4,000 year old site, and discovered phone cables under the ancient settlement. They proudly announced that their country was the birthplace of the phone. Armenians couldn't believe that it was possible that Georgians could have invented the phone before Armenians. They went to their ancient settlement sites and dug one up after another looking for traces of phone lines, without any luck. They realized this could only mean one thing. They announced that 4,000 years ago Armenians had invented mobile phones before anyone else, and that is why there were no phone lines to be dug up.

Soviet Work Ethic

The Soviet Union collapsed for a number of reasons, but primarily because socialism just wasn't working economically. People joke about those times that "they pretended to pay us, and we pretended to work".

The Armenian Nose

Back in the day, God was handing out noses to the different tribes of the earth. Armenians got in line to get their national nose as well. When they got to the front of the line, they asked God how much the noses cost. God said that they are free of course. In that case, the Armenians said, we'll take the biggest one you've got.

Mice in the place of worship

There was a town with a serious mouse problem, and religious leaders from the three town religions got together to discuss the issue of their houses of worship being overrun by rodents. A year later, they got together to compare results.

The Rabbi said that he had prayed that the mice stop coming to his synagogue, but it had not worked. The Catholic Priest said he had also prayed, and even resorted to mousetraps, but the problem was as bad as ever at his church. The Armenian Priest said he had solved his problem. When the others asked in amazement how he did it, he said that he baptized the mice, and now they only come to church on Easter like all the other Armenians.

Persian Armenian Dialect Joke

A Persian Armenian walks into a shop in Yerevan and asks a question in the typical Persian-Armenian accent -- no rolling the 'r' and extending out the last vowel of the sentence a great deal.

'duk unek varoooooooong?' (do you have cucumbeeeeeeers?)

The shopkeeper pauses, then answers,

'ayo, bayts voch et qan yerkar'. (yes, but none that long)

Radio Yerevan jokes

During Soviet times there was an entire genre of jokes popular throughout the communist block, with a set format. A caller would typically ask a question that couldn't be answered straight, and Radio Yerevan would give an answer that technically didn't run afoul of the censorship rules, but in fact put down communism. For example:

A caller asks Radio Yerevan: You know, I've never really been all that clear on what the difference is between capitalism and communism. Could you explain?

Radio Yerevan answers: Of course. Picture the capitalist as a person standing at the edge of a cliff, overlooking a huge, beautiful canyon.

Caller asks: Um, okay, so what about communism?

Radio Yerevan answers: Well you know, communism is always one step ahead of capitalism!