On the territory of Armenia there are a large number of cultural and historical monuments of the past. Many remains of ancient settlements, medieval temples and other structures of historical value have been discovered here.
In these places you can see chapels, stella, valuable architectural monuments. Especially rich in similar cultural facilities are the territories of the Hrazdan River and the city of the same name.
General information
Hrazdan is the river of Armenia, which is the largest left tributary of the Araks. Its length is 141 thousand km, the entire area of the basin together with Lake Sevan is 7310 square meters. km, and the river basin area is 2560 square meters. km
Nearby is the city of Sevan.
In 1930-1962, a whole complex (Sevan cascade) of 6 hydroelectric power stations was created at Hrazdan.
Rivers of Armenia
In Armenia, not only the Hrazdan (river) is important for the national economy of the state. Debed, Lhum, flowing into the Kura, and others are also quite significant for Armenia. However, the largest extent is p. Akhuryan, whose length is approximately 200 km.
All of them have three types of flow regime and power sources. Snow-rain (mixed) food, summer high water and spring runoff are characteristic of water bodies in the eastern and western territories. In the central part, the bulk of the rivers is replenished with groundwater, as well as summer floods. Only a small part of the territory of Armenia belongs to the closed zone.
In fact, the rivers in Armenia have rather small areas of their catchment basins (up to 2000 sq. Km.), Therefore, in most of them the volume of annual runoff is small. Only at Araks this figure is within 22,000 square meters. kilometers.
The longest river in Armenia, as noted above, is Akhuryan, which flows into Araks. The latter, in turn, flows into the territory of Azerbaijan in Kura. The largest tributaries of the Araks in Armenia are Kasakh, Akhuryan, Voghchi, Hrazdan, Lrpa and Vorotan.
Where does the Hrazdan River come from?
The river starts from the northwestern section of Lake Sevan. First, its waters flow along a mountain valley in a southerly direction, towards Yerevan.
In Yerevan, the river makes sharp bends. In the lower reaches, it flows along the Ararat plain and flows into the Araks River on the border with Turkey at about the place where the city of Sevan is located.
River value
Handed out to Armenia is of particular importance. On the banks of the river are such large settlements as Sevan, Charentsavan, Hrazdan and the capital of Armenia, the city of Yerevan.
In addition to the main task (electricity generation), the waters of this reservoir are widely used for agricultural irrigation. In addition, fishing is well developed in these places.
Other water resources
There are not very many lakes in Armenia. The greatest wealth and national pride of the state is the magnificent Lake Sevan (an area of 1.416 thousand square kilometers, height above sea level - 1916 m). Its waters are the main source of water supply for the most densely populated zone of the country.
Hrazdan is the river on which the hydroelectric power station was built. After the construction of the hydroelectric power station cascade, the territory of Lake Sevan was reduced to 1240 square meters. kilometers, and the water surface level decreased by 20 meters. In the country, attempts were made to rectify the situation using an underground tunnel leading to the Arpe River. It was planned that her waters would again fill the lake, but this did not help.
Armenia is rich in numerous deposits of underground thermal and mineralized waters. Among them, the following sources of medicinal hot and mineral waters are especially known and popular : Jermuk, Bjni, Dilijan, Sevan, Ankavan, etc. They have rather healing properties and are a promising type of country's exported products. Demand for medicinal water is also abroad.
City on the Hrazdan River
On the left bank in the upper reaches of the river lies a magnificent Armenian city called Hrazdan. Until 1959, it was the village of Akhta, and in 1963 several nearby villages were included in its structure: Mak-Ravan, Kakavadzor, Jrarat and Vanatur.
Subsequently, residents of other regions and republics began to move to the city, which led to the rapid and successful development of its infrastructure. Since then, improvement has improved significantly: new residential buildings, streets, schools have been built, park areas and alleys have appeared.
This settlement belongs to the Armenian region of Kotayk. At a distance of only 50 kilometers from it is the capital of the state - the city of Yerevan.
In addition to the river. It is distributed, and its tributaries, Tsaghkadzor and Kakavadzor, flow through the city territory. Nearby is a reservoir, built in 1953.
The city is also notable for the fact that quite interesting architectural and historical monuments have been preserved here to date.
For example, in the southern part there is an ancient monastery complex Makravank, combining several ancient religious buildings. It was built in the XVIII century. The main element of the complex is the Church of the Holy Virgin.
The eastern part of this territory is occupied by a small cemetery. It has khachkars - stone steles on which the image of the cross is made.
Conclusion
It should be noted that Hrazdan is a river in the basin of which at one time deposits of gold, iron, copper, molybdenum, manganese, phosphorus and some other minerals were discovered.
In turn, the modern city and Hrazdan are a wonderful combination of a modern microdistrict with a cozy suburban-rural area. There are great opportunities to combine a pleasant stay with the knowledge of the history of part of magnificent Armenia.