Ararat

Ararat, is a province of Armenia. Its capital and largest city is the town of Artashat. The province is named after the biblical Mount Ararat. It is bordered by Turkey from the west and Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic from the south.The province is named after the biblical Mount Ararat. It is bordered by Turkey from the west and Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic from the south. It surrounds the Karki exclave of Nakhichevan which has been controlled by Armenia since its capture in May 1992 during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. Domestically, Ararat is bordered by Armavir Province from the northwest, Kotayk Province from the north, Gegharkunik Province from the east, Vayots Dzor Province from the southeast and the city of Yerevan from the north.

Two former capitals of Armenia are located in the modern-day Ararat Province, Artaxata and Dvin. It is also home to the Khor Virap monastery, significant as the place of Gregory the Illuminator’s 13-year imprisonment and the closest point to Mount Ararat within Armenian borders.Ararat is situated at the east of the central part of modern-day Armenia, occupying the southeastern part of the Ararat plain, only 7 km east of Araks river on the Armenia-Turkey border. Historically, the current territory of the town was part of the Vostan Hayots canton of Ayrarat province of Ancient Armenia.