Atan
A mountain village above Lori's gorges

What is this place

Atan is a small mountain village in Armenia's Lori Province, part of the Tumanyan community. It sits at around 1,650 metres among the wooded slopes of the country's north, about 24 km south-east of the town of Alaverdi.

The present-day village of Atan was founded in the mid-19th century by villagers who moved away from the estates of Haghpat Monastery. The ancestors of today's residents came at different times from Haghpat, Sanahin and the villages of the Shirak area, so from the start Atan grew as a settlement of people rooted in the old communities of Lori. Today it is a quiet mountain village in the Tumanyan community, with a permanent population of 281 recorded in the 2011 census.

Atan lies high in the mountains of Lori, at roughly 1,600–1,700 metres, and the road to the provincial centre of Vanadzor runs about 63 km. The climate is temperate and mountainous: winters are long and cold with a stable snow cover, while summers are warm and fairly humid. The village itself grew at the head of a mountain valley, and around it stretch the wooded slopes and gorges typical of northern Armenia.

Village life rests on the land and on livestock. People here raise cattle and keep bees, sow grain and fodder crops, and tend orchards of pears, apples and quinces. An old church survives in the middle of the village, and the ruins of former buildings can be found in the surroundings; several groups of historical and cultural monuments on Atan's territory are listed in the state register.

For a traveller, Atan village is not a tourist hub but a chance to glimpse everyday mountain Armenia away from the popular routes. It is worth keeping in mind as a roadside point between Alaverdi and Vanadzor, close to such well-known Lori landmarks as the monasteries of Haghpat and Sanahin.