Lori Province

Description

Lori , is a province (marz) of Armenia. It is located in the north of the country, bordering Georgia. Vanadzor is the capital and largest city of the province. Other important towns include Stepanavan, Alaverdi, and Spitak. It is home to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Haghpat and Sanahin monasteries and the well-preserved Akhtala monastery, where Armenians, Georgians, and Greeks make an annual pilgrimage on September 20–21.

The province was heavily damaged during the 1988 Armenian earthquake.

The province is served by the Stepanavan Airport.

Etymology

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The name Lori (Լոռի, known as Loré ლორე in Georgian) first appeared in the 11th century when King David I Anhoghin founded the fortified city of Lori (Loré). The fortress-city became the capital of the Kingdom of Tashir-Dzoraget in 1065. The name Lori later spread through the region and replaced the original name of Tashir.

Geography

Situated at the north of modern-day Armenia, Lori covers an area of 3,789 square kilometres (1,463 sq mi) (12.7% of total area of Armenia). It is bordered by Tavush Province from the east, Kotayk Province from the southeast, Aragatsotn Province from the southwest and Shirak Province from the west. The province is bordered by the Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia.

Historically, the territories of modern-day Lori are associated with tha cantons of Tashir, Boghnopor and Dzorapor of Gugark province of Ancient Armenia.

Lori is a mountainous region, dominated by the ranges of Javakheti, Bazum, Pambak, Gugark, Halab and Somkheti. The highets point of the province is Mount Achkasar of the Javakheti range with a height of 3196 meters. The lowest point is 380 meters in the valley of Debed at the northeast of the province.

The main water resource of the province is the Debed river with its tributaries Dzoraget, Pambak and Martsaget.

The climate is characterized with extremely cold snowy winters and mild summers. The annual precipitation level is between 600 and 700 mm (24 and 28 in).

History

Excavations conducted in 1931 testify that the region of modern-day Lori was most probably settled during the 1st half of the 2nd millennium BC. Later, the region became part of the Urartu Kingdom between the 8th and 6th centuries BC. After the Achaemenid invasion, the region became part of the 18th Satrapy of Persia. With the establishment of the Kingdom of Armenia in 331 BC, the region became part of the kingdom within the historic Gugark province, the 13th province of Greater Armenia.

Following the partition of Armenia in 387 between the Byzantine Empire and Sassanid Persia, and the subsequent collapse of Arsacid Armenia in 428, Eastern Armenia including Gugark province became under the rule of Sassanid Persia. In 658, Armenia was conquered by the Arab invaders. At the end of the 9th century, most of the Gugark province became part of the newly established Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia. In 979, King Kiurike I founded the Kingdom of Tashir-Dzoraget under the rule of the Kiurikian dynasty and the protectorate of the Bagratid kings of Armenia. The capital of the kingdom was Matsnaberd (until 1065) and the Lori fortress. The Kiurikians ruled the kingdom until 1118 when Tashir-Dzoraget became part of the Kingdom of Georgia.

The Seljuks invaded the region in the early 12th century, but their rule did not last long and in 1118-1122 the Georgian king David the Builder conquered Lori and granted the rule to the Georgian-Armenian Orbelian Dynasty. The Orbelians revolted unsuccessfully in 1177, after which a Kipchak named K'ubasari was appointed spasalari of Lori. Later in 1185, the province became ruled by the Zakarian dynasty after Queen Tamar of Georgia appointed the Zakarid prince Sarkis as its governor. however, The region was devastated by the Mongol invasion of 1236, and the Zakarian dynasty declined by the second half of the 14th century. after fall of Georgian Kingdom, region remained part of Kingdom of Kartli, until XVI century.

Lori was annexed by Safavid Persia as a result of the 1555 Peace of Amasya and became part of Persia's Kartli-Kakheti province. After Nader Shah's murder in 1747, the Georgian kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti became independent and united into a single kingdom by 1762. In 1801, together with Georgian provinces of Kartli and Kakheti, Lori was annexed by the Russian Empire. The region became officially part of the Russian Empire at the Treaty of Gulistan signed on 1 January 1813 between Imperial Russia and Qajar Persia.

in 1801, region was part of Georgia Governorate. In 1862, it was transferred into the jurisdiction of the Tiflis Governorate. In 1880, Lori became part of the Borchali okrug of the Tiflis Governorate. In the early 20th century, Lori was mostly Armenian-populated with several Russian and Greek villages. In May 1918, the Ottoman Turkish forces moved towards Yerevan and Karakilisa (now Vanadzor). On 25 May 1918, the Armenians led by Garegin Nzhdeh fought against the Turkish forces led by Wehib Pasha, at the vicinity of Karakilisa. On 28 May 1918, the Turks retreated from Karakalisa, Abaran and Sardarabad, paving way towards the declaration of the Republic of Armenia on the same day.

In late 1918, Armenia and Georgia fought a border war over Lori. With the British intervention the Lori "neutral zone" was created, only to be reoccupied by Georgia after the fall of the Armenian Republic at the end of 1920. Following Armenia's sovietization in December 1920, Lori was finally incorporated into Soviet Armenia on 11 February 1921.

During the Soviet period, modern-day Lori was divided into the raions of Kalinino, Alaverdi, Kirovakan, Aragats, Spitak and Stepanavan. After the independence of Armenia, the 6 raions were merged during the 1995 administrative reform, to form the Lori Province.

Culture

Between the 11th and 13th centuries, the monasteries of Haghpat, Sanahin, Kobayr and Bardzrakash in Dsegh served as centers of Armenian culture, theology and science. Scholars such as Hovhannes Imastaser, Grigor Tuteordi, Davit Kobayretsi, Grigor Magistros worked in these monasteries. The House-museum of Hovhannes Tumanyan in Dsegh is among the notable cultural structures in Lori.

Fortresses and archaeological sites

Kaytson Castle of the 10th century,
Kayan Fortress of the 10th century,
Akhtala Fortress of the 10th century,
Lori Fortress of the 11th century,
Sanahin Bridge of 1195,
Yaghdan Bridge of the 13th century
Sedvi Fortress of the 13th century.

Churches and monasteries

Odzun Church of the 5th century.
Saint George Church of Sverdlov of the 6th century,
Horomayr Monastery of the 7th century near Odzun,
Saint Gregory the Illuminator's Church of Dsegh, 7th century,
Hnevank Monastery, 7th-12th centuries,
Surp Hovhannes Monastery of Ardvi, 8th-13th centuries,
Sanahin Monastery of the 10th century,
Haghpat Monastery of the 10th century,
Church of the Forty Martyrs of the 11th century,
Khorakert Monastery of 1251 in Jiliza,
Surp Nshan Monastery of Sedvi near Kachachkut of the 13th century,
Church of the Holy Mother of God of Vanadzor, opened in 1831,
Saint Nikolai the Wonderworker Russian Church of Amrakits, opened in 1848,
Gyulagarak church of 1876.
Russian Church of the Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary of Vanadzor, opened in 1895.

Transportation

Communities

Lori is home to the following 107 administrative communities (hamaynkner), of which 8 are urban and 99 are rural.

Urban communities

Image City (town) Province Founded Land area (km2) Population
(2011 census) Population
(2016 estimate) Akhtala Lori 18th century (first mentioned) 4.3 2,092 2,000 Alaverdi Lori 1899 18 13,343 13,000 Shamlugh Lori 1770 3.6 700 700 Spitak Lori 17th century 5.6 12,881 13,000 Stepanavan Lori 1810 14 13,086 12,800 Tashir Lori 1844 5.6 7,773 7,500 Tumanyan Lori 1926 1 1,710 1,600 Vanadzor Lori 1828 32 86,199 82,200