Garrnarrich
Highland village by Lake Arpi

What is this place

Garnarich is a small highland village in the northwest of Shirak, on the shore of Lake Arpi, about 32 km from Gyumri. At 2,050 metres above sea level it is home to roughly 210 people.

Garnarich sits on the northwestern shore of Lake Arpi, at the far northwestern edge of Shirak province, near the former Amasia district. The village lies high up at 2,050 metres, among open mountain meadows where winters are long and snowy and the short summers smell of fresh grass. Until 8 August 1991, when it took its present name, the village was known as Kuzikend.

The history of this corner is tied to the former Kars province and the Aghbaba district: after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 the land passed to Russia, and in 1919–1920 it briefly belonged to the First Republic of Armenia. Today around 210 people live in Garnarich, where the usual livelihoods are livestock herding and farming on the high-altitude fields.

Near the village stands a half-ruined church dated to the 6th–10th centuries, while the surroundings hold the remains of the 'Sep' fortress and the abandoned settlement of Karmrashen. For a traveller, Garnarich is above all highland silence, the expanse of Lake Arpi and views of distant ridges that reward a turn off the usual routes.