Sevkar (Arm. Սևքար, literally means “Black Rock”), nestled in the rolling hills of Tavush Province, 157 kilometers from Armenia’s capital, lies a village whose story reads like an epic poem written in stone and memory. Sevkar—a name that echoes through eight centuries of Armenian history—stands today as a testament to the unbreakable spirit of mountain communities.
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Echoes of ancient struggles
Sevkar’s journey through history has been marked by both triumph and tragedy. During the Arab period, the village found itself under the rule of the Gandzak emirate, adapting and enduring under foreign governance. Yet it was the devastating invasions that truly tested the village’s resolve.
The nature around the village of Sevkar, Armenia
Twice in its long history, Sevkar faced complete destruction. The Tatar-Mongol invasion of the 13th century swept through like a merciless storm, leaving nothing but ruins and memories. Centuries later, in 1721, the brutal raids of Agha Mahmed Khan once again reduced the village to ashes and silence.
Village of Sevkar, Armenia. Photo by Vardan Papikyan // Desuden.com
But here lies the miracle of Sevkar—from each destruction, it rose again. Like a phoenix emerging from the mountains themselves, the village rebuilt, replanted, and remembered. Each reconstruction was an act of defiance, a declaration that some things—community, culture, faith—cannot be permanently erased.
Sevkaretsi Sako (Սևքարեցի Սաքո)
A Son of Sevkar: the revolutionary spirit
Among Sevkar’s most celebrated sons stands Sevkaretsi Sako (1870-1908), born as Sarkis Tsovanyan in this very village. A member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, he became a prominent fedayee—an Armenian freedom fighter who dedicated his life to defending his people from persecution in the Ottoman Empire.
His revolutionary name, taken from his birthplace, carried the spirit of Sevkar across the Armenian liberation movement until his execution in 1908. Today, his memory lives on in the Zoravar Andranik Armenian Fedayis Museum in Yerevan, where a bust honors this village son who embodied the same resilient spirit that has defined Sevkar for centuries.
