Spitakavor and Tsiranvor

Ashtarak Աշտարակ
Ashtarak Աշտարակ
Coordinates: 40°17′60″N 44°21′60″E / 40.3, 44.36667
Country	Armenia
Marz	Aragatsotn
First mentioned	9th century
Population (2001)
- Total	20,636
Time zone	GMT +4 (UTC+4)
- Summer (DST)	GMT+5 (UTC+5)

Ashtarak (Armenian: Աշտարակ, meaning tower in Armenian) is an industrial town in Armenia, on the Kasagh River gorge approx. Armenia (Հայաստան transliterated: Hayastan,) officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն Hayastani Administrative divisions The following is a list of the provinces with population area and density information The 9th century is the period from 801 to 900 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. Greenwich Mean Time ( GMT) is a term originally referring to mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London UTC+4 time zone is used as Moscow Summer Time Iraq Summer Time Azerbaijan Time Single zone countries Daylight saving time ( DST Greenwich Mean Time ( GMT) is a term originally referring to mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London UTC+5 is the Timezone for Pakistan Standard Time West Asia Standard Time. The Armenian language (hy հայերեն լեզու hajɛɹɛn lɛzu —, conventional short form) is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian Armenia (Հայաստան transliterated: Hayastan,) officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն Hayastani Kasagh (Քասաղ is a river in the west-central region of modern Armenia which flows north to south For the song see CANYONMID. For the band see Canyon (band. A canyon (rarely cañon) or gorge 20 km northwest from Yerevan, and is the capital of Aragatsotn province. Yerevan (Երևան Երեւան or Երեվան ˌjɛrəˈvɑːn sometimes written as Erevan, Iravan, Erewan, Ayrivan, and Erivan This town, with 30,000 inhabitants, is an important crossroad of routes to the three of the most important Armenian towns: Yerevan, Gyumri and Vanadzor. Yerevan (Երևան Երեւան or Երեվան ˌjɛrəˈvɑːn sometimes written as Erevan, Iravan, Erewan, Ayrivan, and Erivan Gyumri ( Armenian: Գյումրի is the capital and largest city of the Shirak Province in northwest Armenia. For the village in Azerbaijan see Binədərəsi. Vanadzor (Վանաձոր formerly Karaklis, Karakilis, Karakhs

According to a legend, three sisters lived in Ashtarak, all of whom fell in love with the same man, prince Sargis. The elder two sisters decided to commit suicide in favour of the youngest one. One wearing an apricot-orange dress and the other wearing a red dress, they threw themselves into the gorge. The Apricot ( Prunus armeniaca, "Armenian plum" in Latin syn When the youngest sister found out, she put on a white dress and also threw herself into the gorge. Sargis then became a hermit and three small churches appeared at the edge of the gorge, named after sisters' dress colours (although their actual colours do not match those colours). A hermit (from the Greek ἔρημος erēmos, signifying " Desert " "uninhabited" hence "desert-dweller" adjective "eremitic"

Best preserved of them is Karmravor (karmir meaning red) church which is actually apricot coloured. Repúblic of Armenia, Aragatsotn Marz The church of Karmravor (meaning reddish hue or Surb Astvatsatsin is located on the northeast side of Ashtarak This church with an octagonal tambour dates back to the 7th century and is dedicated to the Mother of God (Arakelots). In Classical architecture, a tambour ( Fr: " Drum " is the Inverted bell of the Corinthian capital around which The 7th century is the period from 601 to 700 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. The other two churches, Spitakavor (spitak meaning white, in fact the church is red) from the 14th century, and Tsiranavor (tsiran meaning apricot, in fact the church is white) from the 5th century. The 5th century is the period from 401 to 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in Anno Domini / Common Era.

Karmravor church	Sourb Sargis church

The town boasts two more churches, including Sourb Sargis, built in the 19th century on an old foundation, is situated at an attractive point at the other edge of the gorge and offers a fine view to the previously mentioned three churches. Repúblic of Armenia, Aragatsotn Marz The church of Karmravor (meaning reddish hue or Surb Astvatsatsin is located on the northeast side of Ashtarak The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar The town's largest church, St. Marine, built in 1281, is cross shaped with an octagonal tambour and is situated in the town centre.

Another interesting sight is an unusual bridge over the Kasagh River, built in 1664, which features three arches that are unequal in size. A bridge is a Structure built to span a Gorge, Valley, Road, railroad track, River, Body of water Kasagh (Քասաղ is a river in the west-central region of modern Armenia which flows north to south

Famous people

• Smbat Shahaziz, poet
• Norair Sisakian, academic
• Gevorg Emin, poet

Sport

• Kasakh Ashtarak - football club

External links

• Cilicia.com article on the region