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Located 18 km northeast of the Artsakh Republic capital Stepanakert, on the left bank of the Karkar River, Askeran Fortress (previously Mayraberd 1788-1789) today is one of the most visited places and popular tourist destinations in Nagorno Karabakh.  

The fortress was severally damaged during the war with one of the towers collapsed in part and the higher section of the fortress still carrying the traces of Azerbaijani artillery fire from the Karabakh war of the 90s. 

Today, reconstruction works have started in the area financed by the Artsakh state budget. Panorama.am spoke about the ongoing works with Artak Grigiryan, the Head of Tourism Department at Artsakh ministry of culture.

As Grigoryan informed, the renovation works of the fortress started back in 2016. The first stage included improvement and strengthening of the wall section and the towers across the left side of the road, while the current works are mostly focused on reconstruction of the inner part of the fortress.
To note, the fortress slices the main road in two and stretches out into the green hills and countryside.

“Reconstructions are held in stages with no deadline yet set for the completion of the works. The main reason is the lack of secured resources, as apart from the state finance, we expect to attract private means as well. We think the preservation of historical and cultural heritage is not a task of solely one authorized body but a mission of the public in general,” our interlocutor stressed.

Although reconstruction is in progress, the fortress is still open to visitors.

“The reconstruction does not obstruct the flow of the visitors, as the works are held on one part of the building, while the other sections of the fortress remain open,” Grigoryan said, adding he had no statistics about the number of annual visits to the place due to the absence of permanent staff to record the visits. Another peculiarity of the historical sight is that the fortress is situated just on the roadway Stepanakert-Tigranakert with numerous visitors approaching the area from different directions.

As to the future plans, Grigoryan referred to the idea of establishing some tourism infrastructure with due consideration of the fortress’s historical view and its significance.

“Askeran fortress has a great scientific, study and historical significance for Artsakh. We are confident its cultural and tourism relevance will even grow after the fulfillment of the works,” concluded the Artsakh official.