Հալիձորի բերդ 17-րդ դար, Fortress Of Halidzor, 17th Century, Syunik, #armenia

The fortress of Halidzor is along a hill overlooking the Voghji River to the north, near the town of Kapan. Halidzor Fortress is 1,051 metres above sea level.
Halidzor was originally built by Armenian meliks in the 17th century to serve as a nunnery. It later served as a fortress for the Melik Parsadanian family for a short time.
During the 18th century, the famous Armenian military commander and liberator David Bek and his chief lieutenant and successor Mkhitar Sparapet used the site as their main headquarters as well as an administrative center for Syunik in their fight against the forces of the Ottoman Empire and the Iranians. Between 1723 and 1727, Bek along with 300 other soldiers, 13 bishops, and three priests defended the fortress in a seven-day siege from an invading army of 70,000 Ottoman Turks. The defensive nature of the location gave Bek's soldiers an advantage when fighting the enemy, but the siege left the defenders of the fortress weary with little food. Feeling that they were trapped and outnumbered he led a suicidal charge down the hill that terrified the invading army. The Turks hastily fled the area purportedly leaving 12,000 enemy soldiers dead on the field below.
#armenia #architecture