Categories: Antiquities

The Tapi Fortress – Armenia

The fortress of Tapi was also called “Gevorg Marzpetuni” in honor of sparapet (Սպարապետ – a title of a supreme commander of the armed forces in ancient and medieval Armenia) Marzpetuni.

The complex is located on the right bank of the Khosrov River near the entrance to the Khosrov Reserve, on the northwestern outskirts of Urts, 6 km northwest of the village of Urtsadzor, and 62 km from Yerevan. The complex was built in the 10th-13th centuries.

The rectangular perimeter of the inner walls of semicircular form surrounds the ruins of the 12th-13th-century church. The church of the monastery-fortress is a vaulted hall built of carefully processed white felsite stones.

It is surrounded by a rectangular layout of fortified walls, four corners of which are reinforced by rounded towers. The vaulted residential rooms of the complex are located in the southern and eastern walls.

Such fortresses have always been the most important military bases of Armenia.

Gevorg Marzpetuni Castle

by Ashot Abrahamyan (Alexander Bakulin)

Vigen Avetisyan

Recent Posts

Dura-Europos and Ancient Armenia: A Crossroads of Priests, Inscriptions, and the Cult of Mithra

Introduction The fresco reproduced above — three white-robed priests, one wearing a tall conical hat,…

2 days ago

From Lake Van to Yerevan: The Bronze Helmet of Urartu, the First Armenia

The crested bronze helmet on the left of this comparison was not made by a…

1 week ago

A Tower Crowned by a Lion-Rider: Reading a Bronze Age Cult Vessel Through the Lens of the Armenian Highlands

A small, weathered piece of fired clay — barely 31 centimeters tall — sits today…

2 weeks ago

A Hand Reaching Through Three Millennia: The Bronze Pendant from Yeghvard

Pendant (Amulet) in the Shape of a Human Hand | 7th–6th centuries BC | Yeghvard…

3 weeks ago

Duduk (Tsiranapogh): The Ancient Voice of Armenia from the Bronze Age to UNESCO Heritage

Introduction The duduk (Armenian: դուդուկ)—traditionally known as tsiranapogh (ծիրանափող, “apricot-wood pipe”)—is one of the most…

3 weeks ago

The Earliest Known Mention of Yerevan in Armenian Epigraphy: The 874 Inscription of Sevanavank

Perched on the rocky peninsula of Lake Sevan, the medieval monastery of Sevanavank preserves one…

1 month ago