Fortress · Berdavan, Noyemberyan community, Tavush
Berdavan Fortress
Բերդավանի ամրոց · Ghalinjakar Fortress
A triangular hilltop castle 1.6 km east of Berdavan village in northern Tavush, its walls braced by eleven semicircular towers above the plain of the Koghbajur river.
Where it is
41.2038, 45.0206
Why go
What stands now is largely a seventeenth-century rebuilding, though written sources point to an earlier castle on the hill, and the wall tops and several towers were rebuilt during work in 1983. Because the ground slopes, the walls rise from about 5.5 m on the west to more than 10.5 m on the north-east, and an underground passage once ran from the eastern tower towards the valley. Some 200 m to the south-west are a three-nave church and a medieval cemetery with khachkars. It is a short stop for travellers already exploring the Noyemberyan area.
Near Berdavan Fortress
Monastery
Akhtala Monastery
A fortified monastery on high ground above Akhtala, bordered by rocky canyons on three sides, whose domed basilica of Saint Astvatsatsin preserves frescoes including a Last Judgment on its west wall.
22 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Haghpat Monastery
A 10th-century monastery founded by Queen Khosrovanush on a promontory above the Debed River in Lori, grouped around the Cathedral of Surb Nshan.
29 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Fortress
Kayan Fortress
Ruined walls and towers on a hill at the edge of the Debed gorge between the monasteries of Haghpat and Sanahin, rebuilt in 1233 by Bishop Hovhannes of Haghpat.
30 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Sanahin Monastery
Sanahin's 10th-century monastery in Lori's Alaverdi community, where a library building of 1063 and an academy hall stand among churches, gavits and khachkars.
32 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ