On the southern slope of mount Aragats, is addressed in Ararat valley, particularly the fortress-castle Amberd, the former in X—XIII centuries the ancestral domain of Pahlavuni princes.
Feudal castles, such Amberd, many of which were erected on the territory of Armenia to protect its land from the Romans and the Parthians, then of the Byzantines, Persians, Mongols and Turks.
The Armenian builders have been outstanding fortifiers, they built their strongholds, using natural protection. It could be a rocky Cape at the confluence of the mountain rivers, or impenetrable rock, jointed rock mass by a narrow strip of land. The sovereign princes were sometimes built their fortress high in the mountains, where the enemy was harder to get to. In addition, they understood how important it is to hold the origins of the irrigation systems.
What did the builders of the fortress-castle Amberd. It was built on a promontory bounded by cliffs of deep gorges. The highest part of the fortress is a multi-storey castle. The researchers suggest that its basis is the strengthening of the VII century. The castle dominates the small settlement of the fortress servants. Powerful walls of large basalt blocks surrounded by the Cape from all sides, making it impregnable.Ring the catchment dams on the southern slope of mount Aragats, the fortress above the retained water after the snow melts, and from there she was admitted to the Amberd fortress and was fed by springs located much higher on the slope.
Amberd is evident in all of the characteristic features of the feudal nests: select a place protected by nature; a system of fortifications; the care of supplying the inhabitants with water, in times of peace and at sieges. The architecture of the castle and fortress simple, harsh, and subject to the basic requirement — protects against attacks. Large stone blocks of the walls must take the blows of enemy projectiles and battering rams. Jewelry no, the only bright spots are porcelain bowls set into the brickwork under the battlements of towers, striking according to legend the evil eye.