Aghtsk

Aghtsk Աղձք
Aghtsk
Coordinates: 40°18′59″N 44°15′13″E
Country	Armenia
Marz (Province)	Aragatsotn
Elevation	1,260 m (4,130 ft)
Population (2008)
• Total	1,785
Time zone	(UTC+4)
• Summer (DST)	(UTC+5)

Aghtsk (Armenian: Աղձք, also Romanized as Aghts’k’, and Aghdzq; formerly, Akhs, Akis, Hakhs, and Dzorap - Armenian: Ծորափ) is a town on the slopes of Mount Aragats in the Aragatsotn Province of Armenia. The town contains the Arshakid Mausoleum, a large grave monument complex and basilica of the 4th to 5th centuries. King Shapur II of Persia exhumed the bones of the Armenian kings and took them to Persia symbolically taking Armenia's power. When Sparapet Vassak Mamikonian defeated the Persians and reclaimed the bones of the Arshakuni monarchs, he buried them at Aghtsk. Remains of the monuments and the basilica may still to be seen.

Gallery

Panorama view of Mount Ararat and the Ararat plain from Dzorap

• 

  Road map of Aghtsk and region

Nearby sites

Towns

• Ashtarak
• Oshakan

Villages

• Tegher
• Agarak
• Byurakan
• Parpi

Historical sites

• Amberd fortress

References

• Aghtsk at GEOnet Names Server
• World Gazeteer: Armenia – World-Gazetteer.com
• Report of the results of the 2001 Armenian Census
• Kiesling, Rediscoving Armenia, p. 16, available online at the US embassy to Armenia's website