The 12 best ancient sites and ruins in Armenia

Updated August 2026 · Chosen editorially. Rankings are never sold.

Areni-1 cave in Vayots Dzor held the world's oldest known winery, dated 4100 to 4000 BC and found only in 2007. In Yerevan, the Shengavit settlement's pottery and street layout define the Kura-Araxes culture, a Bronze Age town from roughly 3000-2500 BC. Zorats Karer's standing stones, some pierced with round holes, earned the nickname 'Armenian Stonehenge.'

1. 1
   Areni-1 caveVayots Dzor

   Areni-1 cave in Vayots Dzor holds the world's oldest known winery, dated to roughly 4100–4000 BC, found in 2007.

2. 2
   DvinArarat

   Dvin is an archaeological site south of Yerevan marking the location of one of ancient Armenia's most fought-over cities, remembered for a Byzantine siege it withstood in 927.

3. 3
   Agarak SettlementAragatsotn

   Agarak Settlement is a Bronze Age site on a volcanic-tuff cape above the Amberd river in Aragatsotn, protected as a historical-cultural reserve.

4. 4
   Erebuni FortressYerevan

   Erebuni Fortress is an Urartian fortified city on Arin Berd hill in Yerevan, the ancient site Yerevan's name derives from.

5. 5
   Garni TempleKotayk

   Garni Temple is a 1st-century colonnaded temple in Kotayk region, built in the Ionic order and considered the best-known symbol of pre-Christian Armenia.

6. 6
   Zvartnots CathedralArmavir

   Zvartnots Cathedral, a 7th-century Armenian church near Vagharshapat, survives only as ruins but keeps its UNESCO World Heritage status.

7. 7
   Zorats KarerSyunik

   Zorats Karer, near Sisian in Syunik, is a field of standing stones — some pierced with round holes — nicknamed the 'Armenian Stonehenge'.

8. 8
   TagavoranistLori

   Tagavoranist is a 1,519 m hill above Vanadzor, marking the point where the Pambak and Tandzut rivers converge in Lori region.

9. 9
   Argavand Funerary TowerYerevan

   The Argavand Funerary Tower is a 1413 mausoleum on Yerevan's edge, raised by Kara Koyunlu emir Pir Husayn to mark his father Saad's grave.

10. 10
    Shengavit SettlementYerevan

    Shengavit Settlement is Yerevan's Kura-Araxes type site — the Bronze Age town whose pottery and layout define the culture, dated to roughly 3000–2500 BC.

11. 11
    BagaranArmavir

    Bagaran, one of the twelve historical capitals of ancient Armenia, was a fortress city on the Akhuryan River and a religious center of Urartu.

12. 12
    Mokhra-BlurArmavir

    Mokhra-Blur is an Early Bronze Age settlement mound 4 km south of Etchmiadzin in Armavir region, one of the oldest habitation sites on the Ararat plain.