Aparan

Aparan
Ապարան

coat of arms

State :

Armenia

Province :

Aragazotn

Coordinates :

40 ° 35 ′ N , 44 ° 21 ′ E Coordinates: 40 ° 35 ′ N , 44 ° 21 ′ E

Residents :

6,500

Time zone :

UTC + 4

Community type:

city

Mayor :

Karen Jeghiasarjan (independent)

Website :

aparan.am (arm., russ., engl.)

Aparan

The basilica from the 4th / 5th centuries century

Mausoleum of General Drastamat Kanajan (Dro)

Downtown

Aparan ( Armenian Ապարան ), also Abaran ; until 1935 Basch Aparan ; earlier Aparanbol , Abaranbol , Aparan Verin , Abaran Verin , Paraznavert , Kazakh and Kasagh is a town in the province of Aragatsotn Province in Armenia .

location

Aparan is about 60 kilometers north of Yerevan on the M3 expressway , which connects Yerevan via Ashtarak with the city of Vanadzor in the northeast of the country. 14 kilometers north of Aparan, a side road branches off in Alagyaz on the plateau of Tsaghkahovit to the west to Gyumri . Aparan is located on the bank of the Kassagh River on the east side of Mount Aragaz . The city has about 6,500 inhabitants of Armenian and Kurdish nationality.

history

The geographer Claudius Ptolemy mentioned the city in the 2nd century under the name Casala , modified from the Armenian Kasagh at that time . The current name of the city dates back to the 10th century and is derived from the Armenian word Aparank (Ապարանք, "palace").

In the 5th or 6th century a three-aisled basilica, which has been preserved to this day and renovated in 2001, was built. Together with the basilicas of Jereruk (Yererouk, Province of Shirak ) and Dvin , which were built around the same time, it documents that the earliest Armenian places of worship were longitudinal structures.

During the Armenian genocide in 1915, Armenian refugees from the areas occupied by the Turks sought refuge in Aparan. On May 21, 1918, the city was the scene of the victorious battle of the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Armenia against the Turkish army advancing on Yerevan. A memorial was dedicated to the battle. The body of the then commander, Drastamat Kanajan , known as Dro, was posthumously transferred to the mausoleum in 2000.

Alphabet sculptures

One kilometer north of the village of Artaschawan and a good 20 kilometers south of Aparan, an unusual sculpture park ( Ajbuben Park, Այբուբենի Այգի, “Park of the Alphabet”) was built next to the expressway . It is dedicated to the Armenian alphabet created by Mesrop Mashtots . The 36 letters of his alphabet were placed around the figure of the canonized monk, carved out of two meter high tufa slabs. The place shows that the Armenians consider their alphabet as part of their national identity.