Dzorakap
A quiet village near Maralik

What is this place

Dzorakap is a small village in Armenia's Shirak Province, part of Ani Municipality, right at the edge of the town of Maralik. It sits at about 1,752 metres on the open fields and pastures of the Shirak plateau.

Dzorakap borders Maralik to the south and belongs to the Ani Municipality of Shirak Province, in north-western Armenia near the Turkish border. Until 1935 the village was known as Boghazkyasan; its present Armenian name, Dzorakap, refers to its setting beside a gorge. Around 948 people live here, and local records have counted its inhabitants since the 19th century.

Life in the village still revolves around the land: grain and fodder crops are grown on the surrounding fields of the Shirak plateau, and livestock is kept. At 1,752 metres the climate is harsh, with a long, cold winter and a short but sunny summer. Among the sights of Dzorakap are the old Surb Astvatsatsin church (Holy Mother of God) and traces of medieval cemeteries, a reminder that the country around Ani and Maralik was settled many centuries ago.

Dzorakap is unlikely to be a destination in its own right, but it lies conveniently along the road to Maralik and Gyumri. From here it is a short way to the Hogevank monastery near the village of Sarnaghbyur and to other corners of Shirak, where quiet villages, ancient churches and wide highlands together form an honest, unhurried portrait of rural Armenia.