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Metsamor Historical-Archaeological Museum-Reserve

Metsamor Historical-Archaeological Museum-Reserve

Museum

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40 km from Yerevan center

Region:

Armavir

In the very heart of the Ararat Valley, just 40 kilometers from Yerevan, stand the ruins of Metsamor – one of the oldest settlements of the Armenian Highlands. Its history stretches back across millennia: archaeological excavations have uncovered layers from the Late Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, as well as from the Middle Ages. Already in the 4th-3rd millennia BC, this place was a thriving center where crafts, rituals and the first forms of social organization took root.

The catacombs discovered on the site preserve traces of life and belief: ritual objects and everyday items reveal the mysteries of its inhabitants, while the variety of finds suggests the presence of social classes as early as the Bronze Age. Particularly striking are coins from distant lands and seals with Egyptian hieroglyphs, evidence that Metsamor was not isolated but connected to the great trade routes of the ancient world.

More than 22000 artifacts have been unearthed, each adding detail to the portrait of a civilization that flourished here thousands of years ago. Today, these treasures are displayed in the nearby museum, where the past seems to come alive before the eyes of visitors. Metsamor is not merely ruins but a place where history breathes directly from the earth, preserving the memory of humanity's earliest steps on Armenian soil.