UNDER CONSTRUCTION

   Continuing S is Ditsmayri.

   Kapan (till 1991  Ghapan,  originally Maden - "mineral" in Turkish) is the marz capital, a once bustling mining town built originally with French capital in the late 19th c. It boasts a high-rise hotel on the main square and  a   museum.  On   the  W   edge  of Kapan, on a hill S of the Voghji river, sit the ruins of Halidzor fortress, with church   remains   within.   Built  in  the

        

17th c. as a nunnery, it became the headquarters of Davit Bek, the famous early 18th c. freedom fighter. He died there of illness in 1728, and is by repute buried in the cemetery outside the castle. On the NE edge of town is a 17th c. church in the district called Kavard. Mt. Khustup, which rises to 3200 m S of Kapan, has on its slopes somewhere beyond the village of Vachagan the spring called Hatsi Aghbyur, destination of a local pilgrimage to a reputed holy man's tomb each year on July 8.