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The international conference “Fortresses and Defense Systems in Middle East” has commenced.
International Conference on “Fortresses and Defense Systems in the Middle East” Opens in Yerevan On October 23, the international conference “Fortresses and Defense Systems in the Near East” opened in the round hall of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia. The three-day event is organized by the Department of Medieval Archaeology of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography (IAE) of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, with the support of the All-Armenian Fund for Financing Armenian Studies. The Director of the IAE, Arsen Bobokhyan, Doctor of Historical Sciences, delivered the opening and welcoming remarks, highlighting the significance of the conference and the participation of scholars from various countries.
The first session was chaired by Diana Mirijanyan, Ph.D., Head of the Department of Medieval Archaeology of the IAE. Three sessions were held on the first day. In the first session, Hakob Simonyan, Doctor of Arts, Ph.D.б from the Research Center for Historical and Cultural Heritage presented a paper entitled “Ancient Defense Systems of Armenia,” focusing on the Shengavit archaeological site and nearby monuments from the same period. Mkrtich Zardaryan, Ph.D., Head of the Department of Ancient Archaeology of the IAE, delivered a report on “Armavir – Artashat – Garni: The Fortification of Ancient Armenia and Its Phased Transformations.” Hamlet Petrosyan, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Head of the Historical and Cultural Heritage Study Group of the NAS RA, presented “The Fortification System of Tigranakert in Artsakh” (co-author: Lyuba Kirakosyan, Doctor of Architecture). During his presentation, he also announced that the launch of a new book dedicated to the capital Tigranakert will take place on October 24, in the same conference hall.
The second session was chaired by Hamlet Petrosyan, Doctor of Historical Sciences. Independent researcher Ara Zaryan presented a report titled “The Defense System of the Capital Kapan of the Syunik Kingdom (970–1170)”, focusing on archaeological research conducted in recent years. At the same time, archaeological excavations were also carried out in Baghaberd, located not far from the capital Kapan. Avetis Grigoryan, archaeologist, head of expedition, and representative of the Service for the Preservation of Historical and Cultural Reserves-Museums and Historical Environment” SNCO of the RA MoESCS, together with Aram Stepanyan, researcher at the Center for Geospatial Technologies, jointly presented a report entitled “The Role of Baghaberd Fortress in the Defense System of Medieval Syunik.” They discussed the results of recent excavations and the construction phases of the fortress. The session also featured restoration architect Levon Vasilyan, who collaborated with the teams excavating and studying the mentioned monuments.
Alexan Hakobyan, Doctor of Historical Sciences, researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the NAS RA and former head of the Kashatagh Regional Administration of the Republic of Artsakh, presented a paper titled “Karnakash and the Fortresses of the Berdzor Province of Artsakh in the 10th Century.” He discussed the features of the region’s fortification system and their historical significance, as well as earlier studies of the Karnakash fortress and their scientific value. The last session of the day was chaired by Hasmik Hovhannisyan, Ph.D., researcher at the IAE of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. Armen Ghazaryan, Assistant Professor from the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering, delivered a presentation in Russian titled “The Smbatian Walls of Ani: New Architectural and Archaeological Stratigraphic Research.” Arman Nalbandyan, Ph.D., archaeologist and researcher at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography and the Service for the Preservation of Historical and Cultural Reserves-Museums and Historical Environment SNCO, presented a paper titled “The Wall of Lori Fortress as an Independent Element of the Fortification System.” Artak Hakhverdyan, Head of the Architectural Modeling Group of the Academy of Sciences, together with researchers Tigran Aleksanyan and Harutyun Badalyan, delivered a joint report titled “Three-Dimensional Reconstruction of Tavush Fortress by Construction Stages,” presented by Artak Hakhverdyan. The final presentation of the day, “From Ruins to Museum: Challenges of Restoring the Dashtadem Fortress and Creating a Museum,” was delivered by independent researcher Anna Barseghyan (co-authors: Arev Samuelyan (Candidate of Architecture), Astghik Babajanyan (Ph.D.), and archaeologist Sose Aghayan and researchers at the IAE NAS RA).
The next sessions of the conference will take place on October 24–25 in the reading hall of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia.
