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The Armenite

Armeniaca Place

Gegharkunik

HistoryChristianityAlso: Gegharkunik Province, Gegharkunik Marz, Geghark'unik and 1 more

Armenian
Գեղարքունիք
Region
Lake Sevan

Gegharkunik is a province in eastern Armenia, around Lake Sevan. Its administrative center is Gavar.1

Lake Sevan covers about 1,242 square kilometers, about five percent of the territory of Armenia, and is up to 79.4 meters deep.2

The monastery of Sevanavank stands on a peninsula in the lake. Its two churches were built in 874. The historian Stepanos Orbelian wrote that the princess Mariam, daughter of Ashot I, founder of the Bagratuni dynasty, built them. The peninsula was an island until the lake was drained in the Soviet period and its level fell by about twenty meters.2

Map: Gegharkunik Province todayTavushLoriKotaykVayots DzorAraratGegharkunikARMENIALake SevanGavarHrazdan10 km
Gegharkunik Province of the Republic of Armenia today. Boundaries: geoBoundaries (CC BY 4.0).

Sources

  1. Council of Europe. Local Self-Governance in Armenia. Yerevan, 2013. Table 2.4.1, “Marzes, administrative centers and communities.” link. ↩
  2. “Lake Sevan and Sevanavank Monastery.” Armenian Geographic. link. ↩