Kachaghakaberd Fortress

Kachakhakberd in Armenian means “Fortress of magpies”. There is a story related to the origin of the name. Once a conqueror laid siege to the fortress, but realizing its inaccessibility, he immediately refused to capture and decided to wait until the besieged gave up. A few months passed. The enemy was convinced that there should not been left any food in the fortress, but to his surprise no one came out. When the order to retreat was already given, the conqueror was attracted by a strange phenomenon ... In this area there were a lot of magpies that often flew near the walls of the fortress. But on that day, early in the morning, too many birds appeared above the fortress. Seeing this, the conqueror sent several soldiers to the fortress. From their presence, the magpies scattered, and the dead remained under the birds. Armenians, entrenched in the fortress and at the same time protecting it, died of hunger, but did not give up. Thus, the magpies told the enemy that no one was left alive at the top, and the conqueror took a barely liberated fortress without resistance. Since then, the fortress is associated with the name of those living beings once surrendered it.

People called the fortress Kachaghakaberd, as it is accessible only to magpies (kachaghak - magpie). Locals call the fortress "Sghsghan" (sghsghan – slide, slip): there were many cases when people slipped from the top of the mountain and did not reach the walls of the fortress.