Aragatsotn

Aragatsotn is a province in western Armenia, named for Mount Aragats. Its administrative center is Ashtarak.¹

Mesrop Mashtots, who created the Armenian alphabet, is buried at Oshakan in Aragatsotn. A small chapel was first built over his tomb in 443. It fell and was repaired several times. The present church was built over it by Catholicos Gevork IV between 1875 and 1879, and it is the main church of the diocese of Aragatsotn. The tomb is in a cell under the main altar.²

The fortress of Amberd stands on the southern slope of Aragats at about 2,300 meters. It was used from the seventh to the fourteenth century and was largest in the tenth and eleventh. The prince Vahram Pahlavuni built its church in 1026. Mongol forces destroyed the fortress in 1236 and it was not rebuilt.³