Metsamor is one of Armenia's most important and atmospheric archaeological sites, spread across a low hill near the village of Taronik in the Armavir region, with the snow-capped cone of Mount Ararat rising on the horizon. People have lived here for an astonishingly long time – from around the 5th millennium BC right through to the Middle Ages – leaving layer upon layer of history in the earth.
In its heyday, during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages, Metsamor was a thriving religious and economic centre and one of the region's great hubs of early metallurgy, where ancient smiths worked copper and bronze. You can still trace the outlines of its fortified citadel, the lower town and a religious complex of small temples with stepped clay altars. The site flourished in the age of the kingdom of Urartu and is even thought by some researchers to have served as an early astronomical observatory; the ancient city was eventually destroyed, most likely by Scythian or Cimmerian nomads.
The on-site museum, opened in 1968, brings the story to life with a remarkable collection of more than 20,000 objects, nearly all unearthed here. Among the highlights are delicate gold necklaces, gilded belt fittings decorated with hunting lionesses, and finely made ceramics and ritual objects spanning thousands of years. Excavations continue to this day, now led by a joint Armenian-Polish team, and new discoveries are still being made.
Lying less than an hour from Yerevan, Metsamor makes an easy and rewarding half-day trip for anyone curious about the deep prehistory of the Armenian plateau. It combines well with other highlights of the Armavir region, such as the moving Sardarapat Memorial, the ruined 7th-century Zvartnots Cathedral and the Musa Ler Memorial.
