Masis () is a town and administrative centre of the

Masis Municipality Ararat (, ) is a province ('' marz'') of Armenia. Its capital and largest city is the town of Artashat. The province is named after the biblical Mount Ararat. It is bordered by Turkey from the west and Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republi ...

of the

Ararat Province Ararat (, ) is a administrative divisions of Armenia, province (''marz (territorial entity), marz'') of Armenia. Its capital and largest city is the town of Artashat, Armenia, Artashat. The province is named after the biblical Mount Ararat. It i ...

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

, located on the left bank of the

Hrazdan River The Hrazdan (, ) is a major river and the second largest in Armenia. It originates at the northwest extremity of Lake Sevan and flows south through the Kotayk Province and Armenia's capital, Yerevan; the lake in turn is fed by several streams. In ...

, 9 km southwest of

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

towards

Mount Ararat Mount Ararat, also known as Masis or Mount Ağrı, is a snow-capped and dormant compound volcano in Eastern Turkey, easternmost Turkey. It consists of two major volcanic cones: Greater Ararat and Little Ararat. Greater Ararat is the highest p ...

. The town has a large railroad commodity station that serves Yerevan, and used to connect the capital city with the

Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic The Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Nakhichevan ASSR was an autonomous republic within the Azerbaijan SSR, itself a republic within the Soviet Union. It was formed on 16 March 1921 and became a part of the Aze ...

until the closing of the border with

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

. Masis is one of the closest settlements to Mount Ararat and

Little Ararat Little Ararat (; ; ) is the sixth-tallest peak and a stratovolcano in Turkey. It is a large satellite cone located on the eastern flank of the massive Mount Ararat, less than west of Turkey’s border with Iran. Despite being dwarfed by its ...

. The mountains are visible from most of the areas in the town. As of the 2011 census, the population of the town was 20,215. As per the 2016 official estimate, the town has a population of 18,500. As of the 2022 census, the population of the town was 20,081 and is the biggest town in the Ararat Province.

Etymology

Masis () is the Armenian name for the peak of Mount Ararat.Thomson, p. 90-98. The ''

History of Armenia The history of Armenia covers the topics related to the history of the Armenia, Republic of Armenia, as well as the Armenians, Armenian people, the Armenian language, and the regions of Eurasia historically and Armenian Highlands, geographica ...

'' derives the name from king ''Amasia'', the great-grandson of the Armenian patriarch

Hayk Hayk (, ), also known as Hayk Nahapet (, , ), is the legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation. His story is told in the ''History of Armenia'' attributed to the Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi and in the ''Primary History'' ...

, who is said to have called the mountain ''Masis'' after his own name.

History

Historically, the territory of modern-day Masis was included within the ''Vostan Hayots'' canton of the historical province of

Ayrarat Ayrarat () was the central province of the ancient kingdom of Armenia, located in the plain of the upper Aras River. Most of the historical capitals of Armenia were located in this province, including Armavir, Yervandashat, Artashat, Vagharsha ...

Ancient Armenia Ancient Armenia refers to the history of Armenia during Classical antiquity, Antiquity. It follows Prehistoric Armenia and covers a period of approximately one thousand years, beginning at the end of the Iron Age with the events that led to the dis ...

. Masis originally consisted of three villages: ''Narimanlu'', ''Zangibasar'', and ''Ulukhanlu''. During the period of the

First Republic of Armenia The First Republic of Armenia, officially known at the time of its existence as the Republic of Armenia, was an independent History of Armenia, Armenian state that existed from May (28th ''de jure'', 30th ''de facto'') 1918 to 2 December 1920 in ...

(1918–1920), the Turkic-speaking Muslim population of Zangibasar and other nearby villages, with the support of the

Azerbaijan Democratic Republic The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (), also known as the Azerbaijan People's Republic (; ), was the first secular democracy, democratic republic in the Turkic peoples, Turkic and Muslim worlds. *Tadeusz Swietochowski. ''Russia and Azerbaijan: ...

, rebelled against Armenian authorities with the intention of attaching the area to Azerbaijan. After issuing an ultimatum to the rebels to submit to Armenian rule, which was rejected, Armenian forces recaptured Zangibasar on 20 June 1920 and drove out some of the Turkic population of the village․ The Turkic population of Ulukhanlu, on the other hand, remained loyal to Armenian rule. Masis was officially founded by the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

government in 1953 as ''Hrazdan'', after the merger of the villages of ''Narimanlu'', ''Zangibasar'', and ''Ulukhanlu''. In 1969 the settlement was renamed ''Masis'' to become the centre of the re-founded ''Masis raion'' (formerly known as ''Zangibasar raion'' form 1937 until it was abolished in 1953). Within 2 years, Masis was given the status of an

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...

in 1971.

The settlement was developed as centre for agricultural products and light industries during the Soviet years. It gradually became home to many large firms including the ''Al. Miasnikian'' furniture factory, the Masis unit of the Yerevan carpet weaving factory, as well as branch of the Yerevan paper manufacturing plant. After the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, Masis was granted the status of a town within the newly-formed

, based on the new law of the territorial administration of the Republic of Armenia passed in 1995. Masis is connected with a number of villages stretching up to the

Aras River The Aras is a transboundary river in the Caucasus. It rises in eastern Turkey and flows along the borders between Turkey and Armenia, between Turkey and the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan, between Iran and both Azerbaijan and Armenia, and, fin ...

at the border with

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. At nights, one can see the lights of many Kurdish villages on the slopes of Mount Ararat in Turkey.

Geography

Masis is located in the Ararat plain on the left bank of

, 16 km southwest of Yerevan on the road to the ancient city of Artashat. It has an average height of 854 meters above sea level. Summer in general is short but hot in Masis, while winter is relatively long and very cold.

Demographics

Culture

Masis has a 16th-century chapel named after Saint Thaddeus, and a 19th-century church known as the Holy Mother of God. Currently, the town has a public library and a music school named after

Arno Babajanian Arno Harutyuni Babajanian (January 22, 1921November 11, 1983) was a Soviet and Armenian composer and pianist. He was made a People's Artist of the USSR in 1971. Biography Babajanian was born in Yerevan on January 22, 1921. By age 5, his musical ...

. The World War II monument erected in 1983 is one of the main landmarks of Masis.

Transportation

Masis has a railway station since the formation of the town. It used to connect

with Nakhchivan as well as

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

during the Soviet era. However, after the dissolution of the USSR, the station was abandoned. The M-2 Motorway that connects the capital Yerevan with southern Armenia, passes through the eastern borders of the town of Masis.

Economy

The industrial district of Masis occupies the western half of the town. Unfortunately, most of the Soviet industry in Masis was abandoned after the independence of Armenia. However, Masis is currently a major centre for tobacco products in Armenia and Transcaucasia, with 2 giant manufacturers: ''Masis Tobacco'' factory (since 1999) and ''International Masis Tabak'' factory (since 2002). It is also home to the ''Grand Master'' corrugated cardboard packaging manufacturing and label printing factory (since 1995), ''Masis Garun'' knitting factory (since 1995), ''Berma'' company for construction and building materials (since 1997), ''Masis Woodcraft'' factory (since 2004), ''Medical Horizons'' pharmaceuticals factory (since 2005), ''Masis Woodworking Center'', and ''Sonomad'' plant for building materials . Masis is home to the largest slaughterhouse in Armenia, the ''Voske Katsin'' Armenian-Iranian joint-venture. It was founded in 2015 and became the first slaughterhouse in Armenia that provides its products with the ''

Halal ''Halal'' (; ) is an Arabic word that translates to in English. Although the term ''halal'' is often associated with Islamic dietary laws, particularly meat that is slaughtered according to Islamic guidelines, it also governs ethical practices ...

'' certification.

Education

As of 2017, Masis has 6 public education schools and 6 kindergartens. It is also home to the Masis State Agricultural College.

Sport

Masis FC represented the town in the domestic football competitions until 1994 when the club was dissolved due to financial difficulties. The Masis Children and Youth Sports School named after

Armen Nazaryan Armen Nazaryan (, , born 9 March 1974) is an Armenian Greco-Roman wrestler who later represented Bulgaria. Nazaryan is a two-time Olympic Champion (1996, 2000), a three-time World Champion (2002, 2003, 2005), and a six-time European Champion ( ...

was opened in September 2016. On March 28, 2017, the construction of a new sports centre was launched in the town of Masis, with the donation of the Adibekyan Family Foundation for Advancement (AFFA). The centre which is set to be completed in June 2018 with a cost of US$2 million, will have fields for mini-football, basketball, outdoors sports, as well as a children's playground and a social family club.

Notable people

, two-time Olympic Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion with Armenia and Bulgaria * Arsen Harutyunyan, four-time freestyle wrestling European Champion

References

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