Fortress
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Smbataberd Fortress
Perched on a high narrow mountain ridge between the villages of Artabuynk and Yeghegis at an elevation of 2,000 metres in Vayots Dzor Province, Smbataberd Fortress is one of Armenia's most formidable and secluded medieval strongholds. Protected on three sides by sheer vertical abysses dropping down to the Yeghegis and Artabuynk rivers, the fortress was virtually impregnable to direct assault. Built between the 5th and 10th centuries by the noble Orbelyan and Syuni princes, Smbataberd fell only after a tragic siege in which invaders discovered its secret water pipeline. Local folklore speaks of spectral phantom horses galloping along the narrow ridge battlements and disembodied cries echoing from its ruined watchtowers.