Winter ascent of Dizapayt

Dizapayt is located in Hadrout region of Artsakh, at an altitude of 2478 meters above sea level.

Mount Dizapayt was always considered to be a holy place, which attracted a lot of pilgrims and travelers not only from Artsakh and it’s surroundings, but from all over the world.  Pilgrims climb the mountain mostly in Vardavar. They ask the saints to fulfill their dreams, to heal their diseases and so on. Some pilgrims insist that an angel told them to climb the mountain. On the top of the mountain monastery Kataro is located.

Village Khandzadzor

The previous time we started our hike to the top of Mount Dizapayt from the village Mokhrenes. This time we decided to start from the village Khandzadzor as it was a winter hike.

Legends about Mount Dizapayt

The legend has it that on the top of the mountain, at the place of monastery Kataro, the children of King Sanesan (the head of the nomadic Massagetae tribe) and a lot of Christian people were killed in the 330s. St. Grigoris, the grandson of St. Gregory the Illuminator and bishop of eastern lands of Armenia, led an Armenian mission to convert the Massagetae tribesmen to Christianity and he succeeded in that. King Sanesan reached the monastery and killed all the inhabitants of Katarovank, including his own children. The monastery was destroyed by the Hun soldiers and the corpses of the killed were heaped and burned.

Ziarat

Arabs, who invaded Armenia, called the mountain Ziarat, which in Arabic means a holy place (sanctuary, place of pilgrimage).

Katarovank

In the 4-5 centuries the monastery was built on the top of the mountain Dizapayt. It is the monastery with the highest altitude in Nagorno Karabakh. Leo wrote that it was a Prelacy of Dizak district. According to historical sources the mountain has been sanctified from ancient times.

According to the folk legend God became angry with the people and wanted to destroy the world, but the mountain begged him to show mercy and then God offered the mountain to carry the punishment instead of people. When the mountain agreed a strong lightning struck its top.

View from the top of Mount Dizapayt

From the top one can see Artsakh Valley, the valley of the Araks River, the Zangezur mountain range, Mount Khustup, the villages in Hadrout, Mount Toghasar, the Artsakh mountain range, mountains Kusanats and Mets Kirs, the Gharadagh mountain range and Mount Sabalan.

 

Photographers Aghasi Martirosyan, Hrachuhi Ayvazyan and Tigran Shahbazyan

Special thanks to the inhabitant of Khandzadzor village – Gnel Hambardzumyan, for hosting us and sharing with us the secrets of the village. 

Hiking and Trekking in Armenia