Gyumri, Dashtadem, Harichavank

Gyumri / Gyumri is an urban municipal community and the second largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city was known as Alexandropol, it was one of the largest cities of Russian-ruled Eastern Armenia. It was renamed to Leninakan during the Soviet period. The city’s population grew above 200,000 prior to the 1988 Spitak earthquake, when it was devastated. Gyumri is the seat of the Diocese of Shirak of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Much of the historic center dates to the days when Gyumri was an outpost of the Russian Czar in the Southern Caucasus, and the architecture reflects that. Gyumri is home to many prominent museums of Armenia, including the House-Museums of sculptor Sergey Merkurov, poets Avetik Isahakyan and Hovhannes Shiraz, and actor Mher Mkrtchyan. The city of Gyumri has a great contribution in Armenian folk music. Gyumri is also considered to be the “laughter and humor capital” of Armenia.

Dashtadem / Dashtadem Fortress is a substantial fortress of the 10th to 19th centuries located at the southern outskirts of Dashtadem village in the Aragatsotn Province of Armenia. In a cemetery 1.7 km (1.1 mi) south of Dashtadem, lies the restored 7th-century Kristapori Vank which may be viewed in the distance from the fortress. An octagonal walled enceinte surrounds the fortress and was constructed during the beginning of the 19th century. A continuous line of eight bastions and curtain walls encloses interior fortifications; seven regular polygonal bastions and a single semi-circular or “half-moon” bastion to the north. Where fully developed bastions consist of two faces and two flanks with fire from the flanks being able to protect the exposed curtain walls and adjacent bastions, curtain walls between the semi-circular and regular bastions at Dashtadem are angled-in slightly so that the former is protected by the adjacent projecting fortifications. The main gate requires one to enter at a right angle from the east of the northern bastion. This design prevented cavalry from charging the entry.

Harichavank / Harichavank is 7th century Armenian monastery located near the village of Harich in the Shirak Province of the Republic of Armenia. The village is 3 km southeast of the town of Artik. Harichavank known as one of the most famous monastic centers in Armenia and it was especially renowned for its school and scriptorium. Archaeological excavations of 1966 indicate that Harich was in existence during the 2nd century BC, and was one of the more well known fortress towns in Armenia. The oldest part of this Armenian monastery is the Church of St. Gregory the Enlightener; it is a domed structure that is usually placed in the category of so-called “Mastara-style” churches (named after the fifth century church of St. Hovhannes in the village of Mastara, in the southern part of Shirak). The founding date of the monastery is unknown, but probably it was built no later than the 7th century, when St. Gregory was erected.