Noratus (also Romanized as Noraduz) is a major and historical village in the Gegharkunik province (marz) of Armenia, near the town of Gavar.
Gegharkunik, which includes Geghama mountains and Geghama lake, presently Lake Sevan, the largest lake in the Caucasus and a major tourist attraction of the region, were named after Gegham, a Haykazuni King and fifth generation after Hayk.
Gegham was according to the Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi the father of Sisak of Syunid nobles and Harmar, who was known as Arma, a descendant of the legendary patriarch of the Armenians, Hayk and the legendary Armenian hero Ara the Beautiful (also Ara the Handsome or Ara the Fair; Armenian: Ara Geghetsik).
The Siunia also known as the Siak or Syunik were a family of ancient Armenian nobles who were the first dynasty to govern as Naxarars in the Syunik Province in Armenia from the 1st century. The Naxarars were descendants of Sisak.
Inscriptions found in the region around Lake Sevan attributed to King Artaxias I confirm that in the 2nd century BC the District of Syunik constituted part of the Ancient Armenia.
Gegharkunik has an exclave inside Azerbaijan, Artsvashen, also Romanized as Artzvashen (“Eagle City” in Armenian), which came under Azerbaijani control during the Nagorno-Karabakh War and has been controlled by the Azerbaijani army since 1992.
In the Soviet times there was a branch of Haygorg (“Armenian carpet” state company) in Artsvashen. After the invasion of the Azeri forces, the residents of Artsvashen migrated to Shorzha, Vardenis, Abovyan and Chambarak, where they continued traditions of this art.
The capital of the Gegharkunik Province, Gavar, is a town in Armenia and was known as Nor Bayezet or Novyi Bayazet until 1959, then Kamo (named in honour of a Bolshevik of the same name) until 1996.
The town is situated among the high mountains of Geghama range, few miles away from the western shores of Lake Sevan, with an average height of 1982 meters above sea level. It is 91 kilometers east of the capital Yerevan.
It was founded in 1830 by Armenian migrants from the city of Bayazet (historically known as Daroink) of the Ottoman Empire. Being known as “New Bayazit”, the settlement achieved the status of a city in 1850.
However, the area of modern-day Gavar has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. Many historical tombstones, dating back to the 2nd millennium BC are founded in Gavar.
The remains of a cyclopean fort dating back to the early Iron Age, are found on a hill at the centre of the town. It is supposed that the fortress was the royal capital of the Araratian region of Velikukhi. It was surrounded with more than 22 minor fortifications.
The region of Velikukhi was conquered by the Araratian king Sarduri II. His son, Rusa II renamed the fortress in honour of Khaldi; one of the three chief deities of Ararat.
Noratus contains the famous Noraduz cemetery. The village also has a monastery and church dated to the 9th century, and a ruined basilica built by Prince Sahak.
Noratus is first mentioned as a settlement in the Middle Ages, when it was a much larger settlement. The bronze-age megalithic fort near the village points to the notion that Noratus is one of the most ancient continuously-inhabited settlements in Armenia.
Noratus cemetery is a medieval cemetery with a large number of early khachkars located in the village of Noratus, Gegharkunik marz near Gavar and Lake Sevan, 90 km north of Yerevan.
The cemetery has the largest cluster of khachkars in the republic of Armenia. It is currently the largest surviving cemetery with khachkars following the destruction of the khachkars in Old Julfa, Nakhichevan by the government of Azerbaijan.
Julfa, formerly Jugha, is the administrative capital of the Julfa Rayon administrative region of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in Azerbaijan. It is separated by the Araks River from its namesake, the town of Jolfa on the Iranian side of the border. The two towns are linked by a road bridge and a railway bridge.
Traditionally, the king of Armenia, Tigranes I, was said to have be the founder of Jugha. Existing as a village in the early Middle Ages, it grew into a town between the 10th and 13th centuries, with a population that was almost entirely Armenian.
It contained the largest surviving collection of Armenian khachkar tombstones, most dating to the 15th and 16th centuries. Between 1998 and 2006 the entire cemetery was destroyed. The various stages of the destruction process were documented by photographic and video evidence taken from the Iranian side of the border.
However, the government and state officials of Azerbaijan have denied that any destruction has taken place, stating that an Armenian cemetery never existed on the site and that Armenians have never lived in Julfa. Azerbaijan has, to date, refused to allow investigators access to the site.
The sudden and dramatic downfall of Old Julfa in the 17th century made a deep and lasting impression on Armenian society and culture. During the 19th century, poets such Hovhanness Toumanian and historians such as Ghevond Alishan produced works based on the event.
The emotions raised as a result of the destruction of the graveyard in 2006 indicates that the fate of Julfa still resonates within contemporary Armenian society.
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