Artashat is a city on the Araks River in the Ararat valley. It is the provincial capital of the Ararat Province in Armenia. Once one of the oldest cities of Armenia, today Artashat is one of the modern cities of Armenia. Artashat is situated on the Yerevan-Nakhichevan-Baku and Nakhichevan-Tabriz railway and on Yerevan Goris-Stepanakert runway. The city's name is derived from Iranian languages and means the “joy of Arta.†Founded by Artashes I, Artashat became the capital of Armenia from the second century B.C. until the fifth century A.D., and was known as the "Ostann Hayots" or "court" or "seal of the Armenians."
Artashat is now a mid-sized city and has a population of 35,100 people. It is located 5km north-west from Artashat’s former location. Currently, the city of Artashat is developing. In 2004, construction began on building new apartment buildings There exist six secondary, one musical, one art and one sports school, a theater named after Amo Kharazyan, which has an historical background and represents a historic-cultural value, an art center named after Charles Aznavour, a local TV station and newspapers named “Artashat†and "Navasard." Many new banks, offices, shops, monuments are also in the process of being built in Artashat. |
