Kasagh Gorge - "Red Cave" Paintings

Kasagh Gorge is located in the western part of modern Armenia, from Aragats through Armavir and Ararat provinces. There are many sights along the gorge, most notable of which are two churches: Saghmosavank and Hovhannavank, about five kilometers apart from each other. The construction of both began at the same time, by Prince Vache Vachutyan who erected the Church of Zion in Saghmosavank and the Church of Karapet in Hovhannavank. From both churches you can see Mount Aragats. According to legend, as well as physical evidence, it can be assumed that the gorge was used as a place of refuge, possibly by people from the nearby villages and monasteries.

The Red Cave

Inside Kasagh gorge there is a cave known as the “Red Cave”. The length of the arched entrance of the cave is 12 m, the height is 8 m. The ceiling of the cave is partially collapsed. People say that it is a result of an earthquake in 1988.

Red Cave

The Red cave has once been the only water source for Hamamlu village near the western slope of Mount Ara. There is one hand-made road that goes from the village to the Red Cave through the cliffs. By this road people transported water from the cave to their village. The name “Hamamlu” comes from the Muslims who used to live there. Whereas the historic name of the village isn’t known, though it had been populated since medieval times. In the village there were also preserved the ruins of the 7th century church and a cemetery. During the excavations held in the village, many medieval fragments of pottery were found.

The excavations of this new discovered monument started from 2003 to 2004 by Armenian and French archaeologists.

The “Red Cave” paintings

In the interior and exterior parts of the cave there are found ancient paintings on the walls. Besides these paintings there were also found 2 Arabic inscriptions and some modern graffiti notes. The images are painted with ochre. The preservation, density and colors of these images are different. They indicate that the tuffite, which is a morphological part of the cave, was used in both pure and mixed forms.

From the cave paintings you can guess that they are painted with fingers or using special stones called tuffite. There is a great variety of paintings. Mostly there are paintings of animals. Other images include anthropomorphs (28%), images of signs (24%) and blurry lines (5%).