Archaeological site · Hnaberd, Artashat community, Ararat
Dvin Archaeological Site
Դվին · Dvin · Ancient Dvin · The archaeological site of the city of Dvin
A large mound between Hnaberd and Verin Dvin on the Ararat plain marking Dvin, a capital of early medieval Armenia and seat of the Catholicos until the Mongols destroyed it.
Where it is
40.0044, 44.5783
Why go
Come with expectations set: this is an excavated site with little standing above ground. Occupation reaches back to the second millennium BC; later the city served as a capital of Armenia and residence of the Catholicos, then as a regional administrative centre for the Sasanian empire and the caliphs of Baghdad, until its destruction by the Mongols in the 13th century. The cathedral survives as stone foundations uncovered in 20th-century excavations, and column capitals carry fern-like relief. It suits travellers with a real interest in early Armenian history more than those looking for a monument to photograph.
Near Dvin Archaeological Site
Monastery
Khor Virap Monastery
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14 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Archaeological site
Erebuni Fortress
The hilltop citadel of Arin Berd in south-east Yerevan, founded in 782 BC by the Urartian king Argishti I, whose cuneiform foundation inscription records the name from which Yerevan's own derives.
16 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Archaeological site
Garni Temple
A Greco-Roman colonnaded temple of grey basalt on a cliff promontory above the Azat River gorge, attributed to King Tiridates I and reconstructed by 1975 after a 1679 earthquake brought it down.
18 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Archaeological site
Shengavit Settlement
An Early Bronze Age town on a promontory over Lake Yerevan, lived in for more than a thousand years from the fourth millennium BC and enclosed by stone walls two to four metres wide.
19 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ