R TSAGHKADZO Travel Guide® – Special Edition Lori Marz: page 2 of 23 - TourArmenia © 2007 Rick Ney ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - www.TACentral.com Travel Guide® – Special Edition Lori Marz: page 3 of 23 - TourArmenia © 2007 Rick Ney ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - www.TACentral.com Travel Guide® – Special Edition Tsaghkuniats Dzor, Tsakhnots and till 1949 The village is also the location of the Olympic The town was also known as Kecharis or Kecharuk, TSAGHKADZOR Darachicak, elev. 1837, pop. 1645) is Sports Center, one of the most popular training after the 10th-13th cc Kecharis Monastery, in the surrounded by forests on the eastern slope of Mt. sites in the former Soviet Union before falling on center of the town, founded by Grigor (Magistros) ̲ÔβÒàð Tsaghkuniats (2820.5 m). Located in one of the hard times in the post-Soviet world. The center is Pahlavuni with the construction of its first church, most beautiful areas of the country, the village in a constant state of renewal, now making its way S. Grigor Lusavorich in 1033, followed by S. exists as a resort, its once pristine hunting as both a training center with new facilities N’shan in 1051. The monastery, town and region By Rick Ney grounds for the rulers of Armenia now teeming (including a state-of-the-art Olympic pool) and a fell to the Seljuks a few years later, its fate tied to Maps by Rafael Torossian with modern tourists hot-dogging down its ski runs resort hotel. the ability of the Pahlavunis to placate their new Edited by Bella Karapetian or lounging in the cool summer breezes at any of a overlords. number of pensionats, hotels, motels and camps. The village is also the location of the reconstructed Second only to Lake Sevan for the summer trade Kecharis Monastery and a number of hiking trails In the 12th c the region changed hands again, this TABLE OF CONTENTS (only 20 km away), a growing number of “Novi that comb the surrounding forests and alpine time by the Georgian Orbeli (Orbelian) kings, Armeniyi” commutes between the two resorts, meadows. related to the Pahlavunis, and who granted the BACKGROUND basking on the beaches of Sevan by day, partying area to the Zakarian brothers in return for their History at one of the disco-bars in Tsaghkadzor at night. BACKGROUND success at liberating Georgia and northern Weather Armenia. The Zakarians in turn sold the region to Ecology History Tsaghkadzor’s history goes back to the the Khaghbakians (later known as the Proshians), Dangers prehistoric era, inhabitants logging and hunting in who held it until their collapse under Mongol and the dense forests that covered the Tsaghkuniats Shaddadid invasions. The monastery, town and BEARINGS (p. 5) Range. The town was built over earlier region was devastated by 14th-15th Timurid settlements going back to the Bronze and Iron invasions, its population decimated during the long SIGHTS (p. 5) Ages and was a part of the Urartian conquests Ottoman-Persian wars of the 16th-18th cc. SKI RESORT (p. 5) recorded in inscriptions attributed to King Rusa. KECHARIS (p. 6) Tsaghkadzor was and was one of the Persian King In the 16th c it was renamed again, this time OTHER SITES (p. 9) Sardur’s favorite retreats and hunting areas during “Darachichak” by Persian Shahs, a name it kept for MUSEUMS, ART (p. 9) the Persian period of occupation. almost 400 years. By the early 18th c the regional NATURE TRAILS (p. 9) government used to perform an Armenian version ENTERTAINMENT (p. 14) It was later a part of the Arshakuni holdings, the of the British Raja summer move, relocating the early medieval historian Moses Khorenatsi entire government from the stifling summer heat PRACTICALITIES (p. 11) describing “Tsaghkotsadzor” or “Tsaghkuniats” as of Yerevan to the cooler climes at Tsaghkadzor. In And Out (p. 11) one of the most important settlements in Few relics of this time remain, when it could take a Around (p. 12) Varazhnunik province, controlled by the powerful week or two to perform the transition, and the Tour Agencies, Guides (p. 12) Varazhnuni nakharar family who “lent” the hunting entire upper class made the annual trek uphill to Communication, Etc (p. 12) In the winter, all eyes are on Tsaghkadzor, which lodge and game preserve to Arshakuni kings. The both work in a more pleasant atmosphere and Maps, Money, Film, Clinics, Etc. is still Armenia’s only ski resort. Until other, hunting is no longer as good as it once was, when make the summer rounds of upper society Overnight (p. 12) better ski runs are built, if you want to downhill hunters could spend weeks hunting Stags, Roe gatherings and dinners. Unlike their British Food & Drink (p. 14) ski, this is where you come. Impromptu winter Deer and Wild boar, as the occasional Mountain counterparts, the Persian government was a more festivals pop up each year, drawing large groups of Lion and Javelin, reputedly piling trophy kills as sedate season, Armenians restricted in their DAY TRIP: HANKAVAN VALLEY (p. 15) the in-crowd who pluck up their Kodak-courage to high as banqueting halls, roasting the most prized freedom and ability to have what we would call a RESOURCES (p. 20) side-slip downhill but feel (and look) more in place kills for days-long banquets. By the 20th c. “season”. But like their counterparts in India, the at one of the new lodgings popping up in town. deforestation and hunting (see “Ecology” below) affect of a foreign upper class was as humiliating MAPS Enough of the family trade continues, and locals had reduced the area and fauna to below and difficult, and fermented the seeds of revolt Tsaghkadzor Map (p. Error! Bookmark not and visitors alike are friendly and open, something subsistence levels. that would appear with the Russian Armies in the defined.) not seen much more upscale, western resorts. early 19th c. Kotaik Region Map (p. Error! Bookmark In the 6th c the area came into possession of the not defined.) New restaurants and bars add to a cosmopolitan once powerful Kamsarakans, who had been almost By the 19th c few Armenians lived in the region atmosphere that somehow mixes well with the wiped out by Arshak II (mid 4th c) but rebounded but the Russian-Persian and Russian Turkish wars historical, family-oriented aspect of the resort, if it by marriage alliance with the Varazhnunis in of 1801-1806 and especially 1828-1829 resulted in Tsaghkadzor drives up prices. Like Sevan, Tsaghkadzor is in Kotaik. In the 9th c the Varazhnunis-Kamsarakans an influx of Armenian settlers, immigrants (DD 40.53281 x 44.72044) danger of pricing itself out of business, something repeated their act, this time making alliance with escaping the wars to the west and south. The to watch. In the meantime, cheaper spots exist, the Pahlavunis, a branch of the Bagratuni royal 1828 treaty of Turkmanchai formerly joined the and if you don’t mind going rustic, it can be pretty family. The Pahlavunis renamed the site Tsakhots region to the Yerevan gubernia, ending 900 years ² TSAGHKADZOR - ̲ÔβÒàð (“Flower affordable. (“flower bed”). of Turko-Persian influence. Darachichak continued Canyon”, before Kecharuik, Tsaghkotsadzor, to be a hunting retreat, this time for wealthy Lori Marz: page 4 of 23 - TourArmenia © 2007 Rick Ney ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - www.TACentral.com Travel Guide® – Special Edition industrialists and merchants from Yerevan and Springs are cool and wet (wildflowers peak in minivan (500/1000 AMD respectively) and cook Tiflis (Tbilisi), who prized the clean air and hunting May), autumns cool and dry. your own food, you can probably get by for $25 or SKI RESORT trophies in the thick forests. less for the same weekend. Stay in a pensionat or The resort has become one of the country’s top The average number of sunny days per year is split a cottage with friends and you can get by for tourist destinations, matching Echmiadzin for Its name as finally changed to Tsaghkadzor in 280. $50 but barely. Figure $100 for 2 for an average numbers if you include the hoards of winter 1947, ushering a new age for the town. Some say weekend stay, sharing lodging. fanatics taking advantage of Armenia’s only ski Tsaghkadzor’s charmed life began in the mid 20th Ecology The Teghenis Range averages 2846m resort. The snow falls begin in October and reach c, when Soviet authorities created a modern resort high and forested up to 2400m. The area still BEARINGS their maximum depth by the end of November at the town, converting the old mansions and hosts a variety of species, despite their eminent The town is easy to navigate, if a bit of distance when weekend groups turn into a miasma of houses into pensionats and rest areas for the danger of extinction. The forests are populated from end to end. The main road connecting the humanity vying for ski lanes and night fun. proletariat. It did equalize things, making a with oak, maple, lime and pine trees, with small town to Hrazdan is the H-28 or Kentronakan p. Tsaghkadzor was one of the first resort areas to heretofore haven for the idle rich into a workman’s stands of just about every variety found in There are a number of restaurants, motels, resorts recover from the economic slump of the 1990s and vacation stop (though party bigwigs grabbed the Armenia. and pensionats off this road, as well as a few still leads the country for tourist dollars (and high choicest spots). Tsaghkadzor was also a popular B&Bs.