Lori Berd Fortress Being Restored

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS: A number of valuable things were discovered in the result of the excavations of Lori Berd Fortress, according to Igit Gharibyan, doctor, professor, head of the excavation group. He said at today’s meeting with journalists at the press hall of Armenpress that the Lori Berd had a very powerful defense system and it gave the opportunity to stand up to the enemy for 207 days.

‘Our aim is to reveal the defense system as a whole, excavate the area of the bath-house and the so-called church-building and restore them,’ Igit Gharibyan said. He noted that the works are being processed successfully. ‘When we opened the outer citadel, it was made clear that we dealt with the construction principle, which was typical for the period of Urartu Kingdom, as the nearby caves were used as structural walls on which the citadel was constructed,’ Igit Gharibyan added.

According to the professor, they revealed a row of quadrate and round towers, which come to prove that the Armenian fortress-builders could synthesize quadrate and round towers and ensure a stronger defense system. Igit Gharibyan says it is a serious achievement by the medieval Armenian fortress-builders. ‘The walls of the fortress are 20-25-meters-high and 250-meter-long. The area of the two sides of the walls is currently being excavated,’ said Hakob Simonyan, director of RA culture ministry-affiliated scientific-research center for historical-cultural heritage. He mentioned that they will go on undertaking serious works.

‘Due to the excavations we will have the restored variant of one of the magnificent examples of the medieval Armenian fortress-construction,’ he said. Hakob Simonyan noted that Lori Berd fortress may become a tourism center and play a great role in the economic development of the region. A slew of cross-stones and inscriptions were discovered in the fortress. Hakob Simonyan says the head of a statue from Bronze Age was the greatest find.

‘By this one can come to the idea that the territory of Lori Berd was populated in the beginning of the millennium. The further findings will reveal the oldest horizons, on the base of which Lore – the northern capital of Armenia – was built,’ Hakob Simonyan added. The excavations, which kicked off 2009, are being conducted upon the initiative of RA culture ministry.