Abovyan

Abovyan Աբովյան
From top left: Surp Hovhannes Church • Abovyan and Mount Ara Statue of Khachatur Abovian  • Russian-Armenian brotherhood memorial and the town hall General view of Abovyan
Abovyan Աբովյան
Coordinates: 40°16′26″N 44°37′32″E / 40.27389°N 44.62556°E / 40.27389; 44.62556
Country	Armenia
Marz (province)	Kotayk
Founded	1963
Government
• Mayor	Vahagn Gevorgyan
Area
• Total	11 km2 (4 sq mi)
Elevation	1,450 m (4,760 ft)
Population (2011 census)
• Total	43,495
• Density	4,000/km2 (10,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC (UTC+4)
Area code(s)	(+374)222
Website	Official website
Sources: Population

Coordinates: 40°16′26″N 44°37′32″E / 40.27389°N 44.62556°E / 40.27389; 44.62556

Abovyan or Abovian (Armenian: Աբովյան), is a town in Armenia within the Kotayk Province. It is located 16 kilometres (10 miles) northeast of Yerevan and 32 kilometres (20 miles) southeast of the province centre Hrazdan. As of the 2011 census, the population of the town is 43,495, down from 59,000 reported at the 1989 census.

With a motorway and railway running through the city connecting Yerevan with the areas of the northeast, Abovyan is considered a satellite city of the Armenian capital. Therefore, Abovyan is generally known as the "northern gate of Yerevan".

The town of Abovyan covers an area of 11 square kilometres (4.2 square miles).

The presnet-day Abovyan was occupied by a small village known as Elar. In 1961, the village was renamed Abovyan in honour of the Armenian prominent writer Khachatur Abovian. In 1963, the urban settlement of Abovyan was officially founded.

During the excavations of 1960 led by historian Mesrop Smbatiants, the remains of a 2nd-mellennium BC Cyclopean fortress, an ancient cemetery and old shelters with several objects that represent the 3 stages of the Bronze Age were found in the area of Abovyan.

Smbatiants also found an 8th-century BC Urartian cuneiform left by king Argishti I, referring to the conquest of the "land of Darani" (the pre-Urartian name of modern-day Abovyan area).