Lake Sevan

Lake Sevan is the third largest lake in the Armenian Highlands, after the lakes Van and Urmia. Unlike the last two, Sevan is a freshwater lake. Twenty-eight large and small rivers flow into the lake. There are two legends associated with the name of the lake. According to the first legend once there was a land with green hills, blooming fields, beautiful gardens and an abundance of fertile soils on the site of the lake. Under the hill near the village, there was a spring. Residents of the village before getting water removed from the source a large rock, which kept a strong current, and then they carefully put it in its place. One evening a young beautiful girl went to the spring, pushed aside the rock, filled the jugs and went home, forgetting to close the source. The water spread all over the area, and when it reached the houses, the inhabitants began running away, and an old man shouted furiously: "Let the one who left the source open become a stone!" So it happened: the forgetful bride turned into stone, and the water, continuously arriving, formed Lake Sevan. With its waves the lake carved from a stone girl an island that was named Harsnaqar (literally hars (հարս) - bride, qar (քար) - stone). According to the second legend, the residents of Van moved to the shores of Sevan, decided that this was also Van. However, after a while they did not like the local cold and harsh climate. They remembered the soft and warm weather of their homeland, their prosperous life, and bitterly exclaimed: "Sev Van fell down on us, sev Van". Therefore, the name of the lake remains Sevan (literally sev (սև) - black, meaning: awful).

28 rivers flow into the lake and only Hrazdan River begins here. The Hrazdan River irrigates the Ararat valley. There are six hydroelectric power stations located on the Hrazdan River, which form the Sevan-Hrazdan cascade - the largest in Armenia. Sevan was heavily exploited for irrigation of the Ararat plain and hydroelectric power generation during the Soviet period. Consequently, its water level decreased.

The government established new resorts in the Sevan National Park in 2011. Public beaches were opened in July of that year. Some 100,000 people visited the public beaches in summer of 2011. The beaches have free parking space, children’s and sports playgrounds, toilets, medical aid stations, and rescue services. By 2014, the number of public beaches reached 11. Some 200,000 people took holiday there in 2014.