Dari Glukh

Gavar, Armenia, Armenia

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Dari Glukh (also written as Berd Glukh or Berdi Glukh) is an ancient fortified site in the town of Gavar in Armenia’s Gegharkunik Province, located on a long, narrow rocky hill that runs parallel to the Gavaraget River behind the Haldi Hotel on the main square.

Archaeologically, it is an Early Iron Age fort that includes cave dwellings, defensive towers, and an underground passage leading to the river, and it was later divided into two parts by a transverse wall, with the smaller eastern section on a cliff probably serving as a citadel. Urartian (Urartu) cuneiform inscriptions link the site to the “City of the God Khaldi,” and a c. 9th-century chapel of Surb Stepanos was built on the ruins of the fortress, around which a small settlement grew, blending the ancient military architecture with medieval religious use.

Today, much of the ancient hill has been turned into a modern cemetery known locally as “Dari Glukh,” so visitors see a mix of old fortification ruins and contemporary graves, while the carved Urartian stone associated with the site is preserved in Gavar’s local history museum. Dari Glukh therefore stands as Gavar’s most important historical monument, combining Bronze–Iron Age military architecture, Urartian royal inscriptions, a medieval chapel, and a current cemetery, all within the town’s central landscape.