Old Khot village / Armenian Machu Picchu / Armenian Geographic

Khot is one of the oldest settlements in the province of Syunik. The village lies on crags, more precisely, inside the crags. In this territory, people adapted the caves formed out of tufa volcanic rock formations, after which, the cave dwellings were expanded by stone made structures, which creates an impression as if houses are rising out of cliffs. The village is located on the left bank of the river Vorotan, at 1500 meters above sea level, surrounded by gardens and inaccessible crags.

Old Khot

The area was inhabited until the 1970s, after which the locals moved from the old village to the north, which is currently known as the village of Khot . In the vicinity of the old village, there are thousand years old burial grounds (2-1BC), and in the territory of one of them the ruins of the 12th-century Red Monastery have been preserved.

According to some historical records, Old Khot was one of the taxpayer villages of the well-known Tatev Monastery Complex, and in 1205 prince Dlen passed the village to the aforementioned monastery. In the north-eastern part of the Old Khot is situated the monastery of Khot, which was constructed in the 5th century. There is also another church in this village called Mrgadzori Khach, built in the second half of the 17th century.

You can also read about other abandoned villages of Vorotan gorge in our article.

Photos by Araks Asatryan, Karo Sahakyan and Tigran Shahbazyan