Karadzor
A village by the Karadzor river near Spitak

What is this place

Karadzor is a village in the Spitak community of Armenia's Lori Province, about two kilometres north-east of the town of Spitak. It lies on the banks of the small Karadzor river at an altitude of around 1,550 metres.

The village was founded in 1836, with its first inhabitants arriving in 1865; it took the name Karadzor in 1946. The name itself evokes a 'stone gorge', fitting for this rugged terrain.

The Spitak earthquake of 7 December 1988 hit Karadzor hard: 38 people died and about half of the buildings were destroyed. A 19th-century church still stands from earlier times.

The 2011 census counted 331 residents. A shortage of irrigation water makes farming difficult, yet locals grow wheat, barley, alfalfa, potatoes and cabbage and keep dairy cattle. The village sits in the mountainous part of Lori, right beside Spitak.