Byureghavan (), is a town and urban municipal community in the

Kotayk Province Kotayk (, ), is a provinces of Armenia, province (''Administrative divisions of Armenia, marz'') of Armenia. It is located at the central part of the country. Its capital is Hrazdan and the largest city is Abovyan. It is named after the Kotayk c ...

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. It is located northeast of

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

, and south of the provincial center

Hrazdan Hrazdan ( ) is a town and urban municipal community in Armenia serving as the administrative centre of Kotayk Province, located northeast of the capital Yerevan. As of the 2011 census, the population of the town is 44,231. During the Soviet Uni ...

. It covers an area of . The rural communities of Nurnus and Arzni form the northern and southern borders of the town respectively. As of the 2011 census, the population of the town is 9,513. As per the 2016 official estimate, Byureghavan has a population of around 8,300. As of the 2022 census, the town had a population of 10,432.

Etymology

The name of Byureghavan is derived from the Armenian words of ''byuregh'' () meaning ''crystal'', and ''avan'' () meaning ''settlement''.

History

The town was established in 1945 within the ''Abovyan raion'' (known as ''Kotayk raion'' until 1961) of Soviet Armenia. At the beginning, it was founded a small settlement known as ''Arzni banavan'' (literally meaning ''Arzni labours settlement'') to accommodate the workers of the nearby bottle and glass manufacturing plant, which was placed in operation in 1947. The settlement was further developed by the Soviet government during the 1970s with the establishment of many new industrial plants including the Armenian marble and granite processing plant opened in 1971, followed by the reinforced concrete manufacturing plant in 1973. In 1974, the community was given the status of

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...

and renamed Byureghavan, after its well-known cut glass factory of the town. During the same year, the Arzni mineral water plant was relocated to Byureghavan. Many plants for building materials production were also opened in Byureghavan, including the prefab house-building plant. After the independence of Armenia, Byureghavan received the status of a town with the territorial administration law of 1995.

Geography

Byureghavan is built on Kotayk plateau on the left side of

gorge, at a height of above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

. It is dominated by the Gutanasar volcano of

Gegham mountains The Gegham mountains (or Gegham Ridge; ) are a range of mountains in Armenia. The range is a tableland-type watershed basin of Sevan Lake from east, inflows of rivers Araks and Hrazdan from north and west, Azat and Vedi rivers from south-west ...

and Mount Hatis from the east. The town itself is surrounded by many other municipalities, including the village of Nurnus from the north, the village of Arzni from the south, the village of Nor Geghi from the west, and the town of Nor Hachn from the southwest. During the ancient Kingdom of Armenia, the area of modern-day Byureghavan was part of the Kotayk Canton of

Ayrarat Ayrarat () was the central province of the ancient kingdom of Armenia, located in the plain of the upper Aras River. Most of the historical capitals of Armenia were located in this province, including Armavir, Yervandashat, Artashat, Vagharsha ...

province. Generally, the climate of Byureghavan is characterized with cool summer and mildly cold winter.

Demographics

The population of the town is mainly Armenian with minor

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Yazidi Yazidis, also spelled Yezidis (; ), are a Kurdish-speaking endogamous religious group indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. The majority of Yazidis remaining in ...

, Assyrian and

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communities.

Culture

Byureghavan has an art school operating since 1976, a public library since 1974, and a house of culture opened during the 1980s. The town has a children's art school and a dance ensemble known as ''Byuregh''. In November 2011, the statue of Karabakh War hero ''Samvel Vartanyan'' was erected in Byureghavan in the yard of the town's high school. The ceremony was attended by then-minister of defence

Seyran Ohanyan Seyran Musheghi Ohanyan (; born 1 July 1962) is an Armenian military officer and politician currently serving as a deputy in the National Assembly of Armenia. He served as Defence Minister of Armenia from 14 April 2008 until 3 October 2016. A na ...

Transportation

Being located at the northeastern vicinity of Yerevan, Byureghavan is connected with capital city with buses and minibuses. The H-2 regional road connects Byureghavan with the M-4 Motorway that passes through the eastern vicinity of the town.

Economy

During the 1970s, Byureghavan and the surrounding localities were turned into an active industrial hub within the

Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (ArSSR), also known as Soviet Armenia, or simply Armenia, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union, located in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Soviet Armenia ...

. However, much of the industrial capacity of the town was drastically dropped with the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

in 1991. Many of the Soviet-era firms were privatized, including the glass containers manufacturing plant currently known as Glass World Company, the marble and granite processing plant currently known as Almaqar, and the reinforced concrete manufacturing plant currently known as Sunenergashin, while the Arzni mineral water plant was relocated to Yerevan. The town is also home to the Byuregh Alco wine-brandy-vodka factory founded in 1996, as well as many plants for the production of building materials.

Education

Byureghavan is home to a boarding school operating since 1958, an elementary school opened in 1966, as well as a high school opened in 1979. The high school is named after Samvel Vartanyan, a native to Byureghavan and a hero of the

First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nag ...

The Byureghavan State Vocational School is an intermediate college operating since 1974.

Sport

The Byureghavan school of sport was opened in 1989 and currently has football, athletics, sambo, judo, wrestling and boxing teams.Sport in Byureghavan
/ref> The town is also home to a sports and cultural centre opened in 2010. Byureghavan has a municipal stadium with a capacity of 900 spectators. It is currently used by the young football teams of Kotayk Province.

References

{{Cities and towns in Armenia Populated places in Kotayk Province Cities and towns built in the Soviet Union Populated places established in 1945