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   Also, the town of Lenughi, till 1946 Aghlanli Nerkin or Yasakhli, with S. Nshan church from 1870s.

   Back on the Sardarapat road, Araks was founded in 1940 as a state farm.  Just beyond on a low ridge is the battle monument of Sardarapat, commemorating the Armenian defeat of an invading Turkish army, May 20- 22, 1918. The Turks, coming S down  the      railroad     from      Alexandropol

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(Gyumri), were pushed back, giving the wavering Armenian provisional government the encouragement to declare the independent Republic of Armenia on May 28, 1918.  The monument is guarded by massive Assyrian- style winged lions, and is flanked by a memorial garden for Karabakh martyrs.  Bearing left before the monument, a driveway skirts the monument ridge to reach a tourist pavilion (refreshments) and the highly attractive Sardarapat museum. Director (at least of the military museum) is the head (since the untimely 1999 death of Sergei Grigorevich Badalian) of the Armenian Communist Party. The ground floor central hall contains commemorative material from the battle. Starting from the right, the lower galleries present archaeological materials from Neolithic to Medieval, and implements for various traditional handicrafts. Upstairs are exhibits of carpets and embroidery, modern Armenian decorative ceramics, and jewelry.