The Abandoned Observatory I Spent Years Searching For

In this article, you’ll learn about a little-known abandoned observatory in Armenia, perched high in the mountains and wrapped in mystery due to its unclear past.

Years ago, I was reading the blog of a foreign motorcyclist who had traveled through Armenia and Georgia. He had a photo of his bike parked next to a telescope tower. At first, I assumed it was somewhere in Georgia, but the caption said it was in Armenia. That really surprised me, and I tried to find out more — but there was absolutely no information about it.

That same photo taken by the motorcycle traveler, showing the observation tower and his bike

Time passed, and one day, while scanning Google Earth, I noticed a strange round structure and a few buildings. That was my first hint. I compared the mountain skyline with the traveler’s photo and realized I was finally on the right track. So off we went.

The road was awful. To make things worse, I chose a shorter but completely wrong route and ended up crawling toward the summit on rough terrain. My Pajero handled it bravely, though, and eventually we made it to the site.

As expected, not much had survived. Later I learned that the telescopes had been moved to the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory — where I eventually found them. The remaining buildings were left to decay, with cows wandering around and using them as shelter.

This location reminded me of the famous Shorbulak Observatory, which is situated 4,350 meters above sea level in Tajikistan

One of the towers, though, was surprisingly well-preserved, with its dome still in place. Despite the abandonment, the location didn’t disappoint. It had that pleasant urbex charm, a memorable view opening up from the summit, and fields full of wildflowers.

I’ll keep digging into its history and update this article as soon as I uncover more reliable details.