Karmir Blur Fortress is one of the major Urartian strongholds, located on a hill at the western edge of present-day Yerevan, Armenia, near the confluence of the Hrazdan and Getar rivers. The site was founded in the first half of the 7th century BCE by King Rusa II, who established it as a new administrative, military, and religious center for the Ararat plain, transfering the regional primacy from the city of Erebuni, situated only a few kilometers to the southeast. The temple inscription (A 12-2) states that the city’s name was Teišebai URU – City of Teišeba (the Storm God). The hill on which the fortress was built is called Karmir Blur (Red Hill) in Armenian. It is thought to have received this name because the mudbrick walls of the fortress turned red after its destruction by fire.
Like other Urartian cities, its layout followed the standardized model of a citadel with massive fortification walls reinforced by towers, accompanied by an extensive lower town. The citadel was built with a combination of basalt foundations and mudbrick superstructures, and was divided into palatial, administrative, and religious zones.
The first systematic excavations at Karmir Blur began in 1939 under the leadership of Boris Piotrovsky. Among the most significant discoveries were vast storerooms containing hundreds of large storage jars (pithoi), as well as workshops, stables, and garrison quarters. Particularly noteworthy are the archives of inscribed clay tablets and numerous seal impressions, which document administrative and economic practices.
Archaeological evidence indicates that Karmir Blur was destroyed in the mid-6th century BCE, most likely during the invasions of the Medes, which brought about the collapse of the Urartian kingdom.
Today, the remains of Karmir Blur are preserved as part of the archaeological heritage of Yerevan. Artifacts from the site are displayed in the History Museum of Armenia.
References:
Barnett, R. D. & W. Watson. 1952. “Russian Excavations in Armenia,” Iraq 14.2, 132–147.
Batmaz, A. 2015. “Votive Objects and their Storage Areas in Urartian Fortresses,” ANES 52, 127–205.
Dan, R. 2010. “An Hypothesis of Reconstruction of the ‘susi-Temple’ at Karmir-Blur,” AJNES 5.2, 44–52.
Grekyan, Y. 2021. “Karmir-Blur,” in Archaeology and History of Urartu (Biainili), ed. G. R. Tsetskhladze, Colloquia Antiqua, Leuven, 651–680.
Kuntner, W., S. Heinsch, M. Badalyan & V. Sarsyan. 2025. “Karmir Blur in the Late Urartian Context,” Iran and the Caucasus 29, 1–22.
Piotrovsky, B. B. 1950–1955. Karmir Blur I–III: Results of the Excavations 1939–1953, Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR, Yerevan. (in Russian)
Piotrovsky, B. B. 1970. Karmir-Blur. Al’Bom, Leningrad. (in Russian)
Image Sources:
B. B. Piotrovsky, 1950, 1955, 1970
Travis Witt, 2009
A. Batmaz, 2021
Rouben Sargsyan, 2021
Google Earth, 2021