Berdavan Village
Berdavan (Arm: Բերդավան), Tavush Marz
From Koghb, a road leads NE to Berdavan (3173 p, once Kalacha). Turning right, an asphalt road winds down through the village. Where two dirt roads fork, take the left hand, cross the stream, and then bear left again at the next fork, leading (jeeps only) to a picturesque triangular 10-11th c. Ghalinjakar castle* (41 12.23n x 045 01.22e)on a hill near the Azerbaijan border, just past ruins of a church with a cross "with arms" (tevavor khach) in the yard. There used to be shelters, stores, etc. in the castle courtyard. On the outsides of the walls are 11 towers like half or 3/4 rolls. Due to the topography, the SW walls are 5.5m high and the NW ones 10.5m high. The only entry 1m wide is from W side with tuff pointed end. There are stairs towards south from the entry. The fortress used to have a secret passage taking to the canyon. Part of it with average man's height can be seen from the bottom part of E tower corner. The tower is empty and has a high door taking to the secret passage. Berdavan fortress is probably the Ghalinjakar temple remembered by an unnamed XIII c Georgian historian. It appears that Berdavan existed at least since XIII c. but the present structure probably belongs to late medieval times, probably to XVII c, with some additional reconstruction taking place in the 1980s. A medieval cemetery has an especially noteworthy big khachkar leaning on cube-shaped pedestal with cross images and pictures of standing people figures on its eastern side. There are large khachkars in the village.
Source: Rediscovering Armenia Guidebook
