Kachaghakaberd

 

Kachaghakaberd is a mountain-top fortress located between the villages of Kolatak and Khndzristan, in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, de facto in the Askeran Province of the Republic of Artsakh, de jure in the Khojaly District of Azerbaijan. The Janapar Trail runs very near to the fortress. A short side trail takes to the top of the fortress.

Kachaghakaberd is translated from Armenian as magpie's fortress, a combination of the words կաչաղաք (kachaghak, designating the bird magpie) and բերդ (berd, meaning fortress).

The fortress was an important fortification of the medieval Armenian Principality of Khachen that thrived in the High Middle Ages, and is located at a height of more than 1700 meters, surrounded by vertical limestone cliffs with the heights of 50-60 meters, has a hard-to-reach entrance from the southern side of the fortress. During its history no one could ever storm the fortress. Parts of the defensive walls remain standing.

The territory of the fortress occupies a large area, though it seems small. Many rooms, secret passages cut into the cliffs, and special loopholes for throwing stones at enemies are inside its territory. The water supply problem was solved by a unique method: two rock-cut reservoirs to store rain and melt-water are in the center of the fortress. Fresh water was brought from a spring at the foot of the mountain.

While passing the road from Stepanakert to Gandzasar you can see a piece of a cliff that rises from the forests. You can never confuse it with any other peak, it is Kachaghakaberd.

The miraculous fortress, rising among greenery and whitening in the blue of the sky, creates poetic images in the imagination. In the sources, this ancient fortification is referred to as the Khachen fortress. According to Movses Kaghankatvatsi, in the 9th century a princess named Spram, who have lost her husband, “found courage in her, took her survived daughter, overcame all the difficulties, and took refuge in the Khachen fortress”.

Kachaghakaberd is located between the Ptretsik and Kolatak villages. The mountain peak is surrounded by steep cliffs. The territory of the fortress is reachable only from the southern side and you will need special efforts to get to the fortress.

From the distance, the fortress seems smaller than it actually is. It has not kept its shapes as a fortress, but you can see from the remnants how majestic it used to be.

In ancient times there were many dwelling houses, secret passes curved in the cliffs. Two basins were preserved on the central part of the fortress where the rainwaters were gathered.

The Legend of Kachaghakaberd

Legend has it that only one person could defend the fortress, as only one person could pass through a path leading to the fortress.

According to this legend, an invader who surrounded the fortress, realizes that there is no way his army could reach the fortress and fight against people who were sitting there. Therefore, he refuses to capture it by force and decides to wait until people would starve and surrender voluntarily.

A long time passes, but the defense of the fortress remains impregnable. The invader was sure that people in the fortress had access to the nature’s goods and thus could escape starvation. He ordered his army to retreat. Before leaving, he glanced up at that impregnable fortress for the last time and noticed a strange phenomenon : a massive flock of magpies was circling over the fortress.

To ensure that his hunches were correct, the invader sends some of his soldiers to check the situation inside the fortress. When soldiers enter the fortress, the flock of magpies gathered inside flies away and the soldiers face horrifying scenery: a ground covered with the corpses of brave men, who chose to starve to death rather than surrender.

Thus, the voracity of the magpies served as a hint for the enemy and became a symbol of betrayal. Because of those magpies, the enemy understood that there are no survivors in the fortress and captured it with no resistance. People named the fortress Kachaghakaberd (Magpie fortress), so that this story can be remembered forever.