Goris in People's Minds
How residents of Goris shape the image and memory of their city
Photo by Aram Petrosyan
When people hear the word "Goris,"
what do they first think of - streets and houses, or fables and mountains? Dozens of hand-drawn maps made by Goris residents using Kevin Lynch's mental mapping method reveal a city of paths, neighborhoods, landmarks, and humorous anecdotes - not merely buildings and borders.
what do they first think of - streets and houses, or fables and mountains? Dozens of hand-drawn maps made by Goris residents using Kevin Lynch's mental mapping method reveal a city of paths, neighborhoods, landmarks, and humorous anecdotes - not merely buildings and borders.
Kevin Lynch is a prominent figure in American urbanism. He taught at MIT and was one of the students of the world-renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright. He is especially known for his work The Image of the City, in which he examined the phenomenon of the city from a psychological perspective - trying to understand how the existence of a city is expressed in people's minds and perceptions, and what the city's image or "brand" looks like.
Lynch pioneered mental mapping as a method of qualitative urban research, through which he concluded that any mental city has 5 key elements, whose combination forms the city's image in people's minds. These 5 Lynchian urban elements are: paths (any type of road, trail, or stairway connecting different points), edges (clear lines separating different parts of a city, or the city's boundaries with the outside world), nodes (various types of intersections and public square-like spaces), districts, and landmarks.
I don't personally know Lynch, but studying Urban Studies at Macalester College in the US, I had the opportunity to learn about his famous method and even apply it with my classmates. In 2025, as one of the interns at Urbanista, I decided to test mental mapping and explore the image of a city very dear to me - Goris.
During my fieldwork, I collected around three dozen hand-drawn maps from residents of different parts of Goris and different age groups, asking each person to spend about 10 minutes on the task. Through this material, I want to introduce readers to these fascinating hand-drawn "Gorises" and draw conclusions about the urban image and character of Goris. What is born in people's minds when they hear the name Goris? What makes up Goris's identity? What makes Goris - Goris?
According to historians, this plain, which lay along the Silk Road, frequently hosted fairs and lively trade. It was this scene that the governor of Zangezur, Karaev, supposedly saw "on a moonlit night," was impressed by, and decided that the uezd center would be established in this area. The actual founding and construction of the city was led by local nobleman Manuchar Bek-Hyuseinyan and governor Staratsky.
During my fieldwork, I collected around three dozen hand-drawn maps from residents of different parts of Goris and different age groups, asking each person to spend about 10 minutes on the task. Through this material, I want to introduce readers to these fascinating hand-drawn "Gorises" and draw conclusions about the urban image and character of Goris. What is born in people's minds when they hear the name Goris? What makes up Goris's identity? What makes Goris - Goris?
According to historians, this plain, which lay along the Silk Road, frequently hosted fairs and lively trade. It was this scene that the governor of Zangezur, Karaev, supposedly saw "on a moonlit night," was impressed by, and decided that the uezd center would be established in this area. The actual founding and construction of the city was led by local nobleman Manuchar Bek-Hyuseinyan and governor Staratsky.
First and foremost, I want to discuss the maps drawn by my own grandmother and grandfather, as they were the first participants in my study.
In both of their maps, Goris's streets - listed by name - are central. Out of the 28 maps included in the calculations, 23 (~82%) feature various types of paths; paths clearly play a crucial role in the image of Goris.
My grandfather also noted Goris neighborhoods: Eghjiazi, Tsti Bner (translated literally - Birds' Nests), Cheremushka, and Vanki Tap (Below Monastery). Today it is hard to find a clear map online showing the official division of Goris's neighborhoods or administrative districts, but references to various neighborhoods appear throughout this study.
In both of their maps, Goris's streets - listed by name - are central. Out of the 28 maps included in the calculations, 23 (~82%) feature various types of paths; paths clearly play a crucial role in the image of Goris.
My grandfather also noted Goris neighborhoods: Eghjiazi, Tsti Bner (translated literally - Birds' Nests), Cheremushka, and Vanki Tap (Below Monastery). Today it is hard to find a clear map online showing the official division of Goris's neighborhoods or administrative districts, but references to various neighborhoods appear throughout this study.
Cheremushka is the same as the Getapnya (Riverside) neighborhood - a cluster of Soviet-era apartment buildings along the Vararakn River. Vanki Tap is likewise a group of Soviet-era apartment buildings along both sides of Syunik Street, which enters the city from the north.
"Tap" in the local dialect means "below," and locals say this area is called "Vanki Tap" because nearby is the 4th-century St. Hripsime Church of Verishen village, immediately adjacent to the city. Particularly noteworthy is the neighborhood called "Tsti Bner" (Birds' Nests), built in the late Soviet years, which won first prize at an architectural competition held in Bulgaria in the 1980s. It literally resembles birds' nests nestled into the hillside, and the houses are built on the principle that "one's courtyard is another's rooftop."
"Tap" in the local dialect means "below," and locals say this area is called "Vanki Tap" because nearby is the 4th-century St. Hripsime Church of Verishen village, immediately adjacent to the city. Particularly noteworthy is the neighborhood called "Tsti Bner" (Birds' Nests), built in the late Soviet years, which won first prize at an architectural competition held in Bulgaria in the 1980s. It literally resembles birds' nests nestled into the hillside, and the houses are built on the principle that "one's courtyard is another's rooftop."
According to locals, this type of terraced construction was particularly common in the villages of Old Halidzor and Shinuhayr in the Goris region, which, like other villages in the area, were mainly located on mountain slopes.
Photo from Aksel Bakunts house-museum
Photo from Aksel Bakunts house-museum
My grandmother's map immediately draws attention to one important landmark: Mount Lasti Khut. It is clear that in my grandmother's imagination, Goris without Lasti Khut is not Goris. Lasti Khut is the most famous and symbolic of the mountains surrounding Goris, and the origin of its name has various real and mythical versions.
For example, it is said that when Noah descended from the peak of Ararat and the water had not yet fully receded from the land, one of his sons came sailing on a raft and landed on top of Lasti Khut, where he then established his home (“Last” means raft in Armenian).
Photo by Anahit Minasyan / Urbanista, 2024
For example, it is said that when Noah descended from the peak of Ararat and the water had not yet fully receded from the land, one of his sons came sailing on a raft and landed on top of Lasti Khut, where he then established his home (“Last” means raft in Armenian).
Photo by Anahit Minasyan / Urbanista, 2024
Since that day, the mountain has been called Lasti Khut - "the hill of the raft." This mountain is also often associated with the Silk Road. There is a local joke: some city wits once hailed a taxi and decided to play a trick on the driver: "Unc, take us to India!" The driver said "Sure, boys!" and drove them to the foot of Lasti Khut mountain, then said: "Boys, from here you'll need a camel."
It is notable how my grandmother views the city from a functional perspective: she marked places such as the "Tsiatsan" store, a flower salon, a fresh bread bakery, a mill, and so on. These are services still available in the city today and are central to my grandmother's mental city. A more large-scale and methodologically rigorous study could test the hypothesis that the mental maps of older residents contain objects that no longer exist and have been transformed into memory.
I particularly want to highlight the map drawn by Goris's notable architect Sevada Zakaryan, which he sketched in just 30 seconds. During a brief meeting, Mr. Zakaryan did not want to draw a detailed map, but said that in his opinion, when people think of Goris, they picture their own private house and garden. In essence, this means that Goris's private homes, through their distinctive features, create Goris's mental image - with decorated walls called "barkash," red roofs, home gardens, and white window grates.
Սևադա Զաքարյան, ճարտարապետ
From my conversation with Mr. Zakaryan, I want to highlight a few interesting facts. According to the architect, it is a myth that Goris was designed by a German architect - a widespread legend among locals. He explained that from the 1890s to the 1900s, the mayor of Goris was a Russian chinovnik of German descent, during whose tenure many different things were built. As a result, people began saying that Goris is "the materialisation of German talent"․
Regarding construction materials, Mr. Zakaryan noted that the stones of Goris's private houses mainly come from the banks of the Vararakn and other nearby rivers, while the red color of the roofs was achieved using a material called "olif." When I asked why Goris residents, even from the city's founding, aspired to have red roofs, he replied: "They did the same in Europe - in European cities people also painted their roofs red."
Regarding construction materials, Mr. Zakaryan noted that the stones of Goris's private houses mainly come from the banks of the Vararakn and other nearby rivers, while the red color of the roofs was achieved using a material called "olif." When I asked why Goris residents, even from the city's founding, aspired to have red roofs, he replied: "They did the same in Europe - in European cities people also painted their roofs red."
According to local accounts, the markets accessible to Goris residents had a surplus of red paint used for painting ships at the port of Baku. Locals who didn't have tiled roofs would buy this and use it to paint their tin roofs.
Photo by Anahit Minasyan / Urbanista
Photo by Anahit Minasyan / Urbanista
Landmarks play an important role in people's mental images of Goris. Only a handful of maps lack references to the city's landmarks, focusing instead on other features (such as the 24 surrounding villages). Below I list the most frequently mentioned ones.
Nor Zanger
Zanger (Translated as “The Bells”) and Lasti Khut were each mentioned 11 times - the most frequently cited landmarks. Goris currently has two gateway monuments: one set of Zanger built in 2001 on the road from Yerevan, and another built in 2018 on the road from Stepanakert, more commonly known as the "New Zanger." The latter is a reconstructed version of a monument originally built in 1985 near the city entrance on the Yerevan road and later demolished.
The Zanger on the Yerevan road were built from local basalt, while the newly reconstructed Zanger were built from light volcanic stones from Mount Ishkhansar, which locals call "dead" stone. The structure's colors harmonize with the pinkish hues of the pyramidal rocks in the surrounding area. There is a folk joke about the old Zanger: when they had been demolished and the new ones hadn't yet been built, it is said that a man from Kapan and a man from Sisian arranged to meet at the Goris Zanger - but both passed through without stopping: the Sisian man ended up in Kapan, and the Kapan man ended up in Sisian. This humorous story speaks to Goris's role as a node linking Sisian and Kapan - a role that, unfortunately, is no longer as relevant today.
The Zanger on the Yerevan road were built from local basalt, while the newly reconstructed Zanger were built from light volcanic stones from Mount Ishkhansar, which locals call "dead" stone. The structure's colors harmonize with the pinkish hues of the pyramidal rocks in the surrounding area. There is a folk joke about the old Zanger: when they had been demolished and the new ones hadn't yet been built, it is said that a man from Kapan and a man from Sisian arranged to meet at the Goris Zanger - but both passed through without stopping: the Sisian man ended up in Kapan, and the Kapan man ended up in Sisian. This humorous story speaks to Goris's role as a node linking Sisian and Kapan - a role that, unfortunately, is no longer as relevant today.
Although Goris is a border town today, it is important to note that none of the mapping participants marked the newly formed border with the aggressive neighbor. Results might have been different in Gegharkunik and Tavush, where residents of border villages and towns have not only lived near the line of contact for a long time, but live alongside Azerbaijan - not Artsakh. In any case, a similar mapping exercise in Kapan might show participants marking the border with Azerbaijani military positions immediately adjacent to the city. The identity of being a "frontline" community surely develops with different intensity and logic across Armenia's border communities.
One participant created a particularly interesting "map." He marked the streets around the Goris prison, its exact location, and noted a joke: if in women in Kapan became friends because their husbands worked together in the mines, and women in Sisian visited each other's homes because their husbands were from the same kolkhoz, then women in Goris became friends because their husbands went to jail together. In general, various anecdotes in the "Gorisian-Kapanian-Sisiani" format suggest that beyond distinct city identities, there is also a unique identity shared by this trio - one from which other nearby cities like Meghri and Stepanakert are somewhat excluded.
The results suggest to me that across all Gorisians' mental "Gorises," the city's identity, structure, and significance are clearly apparent. The city's identity lies in the unique architecture of its private homes, the city's layout, the chess-board pattern of its streets, and the division between Old and New Goris on either side of the river. And the city's significance holds a different personal meaning for each person.
Thus, in people's minds, Goris is simultaneously a spatial structure, a cultural memory, and a collective of personal experiences. Mental mapping can become an important tool for urban planning and participatory governance - helping to understand residents' urban needs and their visions for the city.
Thus, in people's minds, Goris is simultaneously a spatial structure, a cultural memory, and a collective of personal experiences. Mental mapping can become an important tool for urban planning and participatory governance - helping to understand residents' urban needs and their visions for the city.
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