Syunik is the southernmost and, perhaps, the harshest province of Armenia. Here the road winds in serpentines above the abyss, copper veins hide in reddish cliffs, and every pass reveals a new landscape: now walnut groves, now alpine meadows, now almost lunar highlands.
Along the Vorotan gorge stretch monastery complexes, the chief of which is Tatev. Since the 10th century it has held the thought and word of this land: a library, a university, a workshop of bell-makers. Today the world's longest passenger cableway leads to it.
In Kapan — a city of miners — lives almost a third of the province's population. Farther south, toward Meghri, the climate becomes almost Mediterranean: pomegranate, fig, grape. At the border with Iran the valley narrows, and the river Arax carries stones to the Caspian.
«Syunik is not the edge of Armenia. It is its spine.»
On this page — the settlements of the province (with weather on click), its main monuments, routes, and chronicle. Tatev, Khndzoresk, Zorats Karer — each with its own time and its own character.
