Shnogh
A village above the Debed, with Kaytson fortress and St George's church

What is this place

Shnogh is a large village in the north-east of Armenia's Lori Province, on the right, hilly bank of the Debed river. Its name comes from an Armenian word meaning 'abundant, fertile soil'.

Shnogh's history is bound up with Kaytson fortress, probably founded as early as the 9th century on the site of a cyclopean stronghold; in the Middle Ages the area was held by the Kyurikids, then by the Georgian king David the Builder, and in the 13th–15th centuries by the Armenian Zakarian princes. In the village itself survive the Surb Gevorg (St George) church of 1893 and the Terunakan shrine of 1222, as well as an ethnographic museum.

At the start of the 20th century, people from Shnogh founded the neighbouring village of Teghut. In 2014 a large copper-molybdenum open pit was opened near Teghut, against which environmentalists protested; in 2018 the mine closed after reports of a leak from the tailings dam into the Shnogh river. Analyses confirmed that the surroundings were polluted with heavy metals.

Despite this, Shnogh remains a living village: its people farm and keep livestock, and the Debed valley itself, with its fortresses and monasteries, is one of the most beautiful places in northern Armenia.