Ararat Town

Ararat (Arm: Արարատ), Ararat Marz

East of the highway is the dusty city of Ararat (19573 p), founded in 1920, its raison d'etre the Ararat Cement Factory. Ararat also boasts a gold ore processing plant, the massive spoil dump from which is now being profitably exploited for residual gold by a multinational corporation. There is allegedly a hotel and a spa attached to a mineral spring nearby.

Just west, Ararat village (6602 p, till 1935 Davalu) is the native village of former Armenian Defense Minister Vazgen Sargsian, named Prime Minister in June 1999 and murdered along with the whole parliamentary leadership on October 27, 1999 by a small band of malcontents. Sargsian's brother Aram, who briefly replaced him as Prime Minister, continues to live there, as does his mother. Davalu was the capital of the Vedi-Basar Mahal in Persian times, a region that began to be repopulated with Armenians only with the Russian conquest and exchange of populations in 1828. W of Ararat are Noyakert (1764 p, till 1991 Khalisa), repopulated by refugees from Azerbaijan in 1988, and Yeghegnavan (1230 p)

Source: Rediscovering Armenia Guidebook