Gagarin project is financed by Dar Foundation. The aim of this project is to help six villages located in Gegharkunik Province Gagarin, Geghamavan, Ddmashen, Zovaber, Tsaghkunk and Varser develop in the spheres of economy, education, health care, agriculture and culture through innovative solutions. Our EduComplex also participates in this project. Ashot Bleyan coordinates the work of our EduComplex in Gagarin Project.
In the summer of 2022, the EduComplex organized summer camps in the villages of Tsaghkunk and Zovaber. The founding director of our EduComplex, Ashot Bleyan, says that they are going to open a language center in the village of Ddmashen. Hans Christopher- Pocha, a language specialist from Germany, has recently arrived in Armenia and now he is staying in the Teacher’s house in Ddmashen. He has been invited to Armenia by the coordinators of the project. His aim is to help the foreign language teachers acquire new progressive methods of teaching.
Six villages of Gagarin project.
Gagarin
In 1955 a new settlement was founded near the town of Sevan. The settlers were the workers who were constricting Atarbekyan Hydroelectric power station. Later, in 1961 when the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin carried out the first flight to space, the settlement was named Gagarin.
Geghamavan
Geghamavan has about 1,600 residents. It was founded in 1828, when 400 people immigrated here from persia’s Maku region. There is a secondary school, a house of culture nad Church St. Hovhannes in this village.
Ddmashen
Ddmashen was founded in 1828 by the settlers from Persia’s Maku region. The location was famous for Church St. Tadevos which was built in the 7th century. Nowthe village has a secondary school, a kindergarten, a historical museum, a library, a cultural center, and a medical hospital.
Zovaber
In 1828, about 55 families immigrated to Zovaber from the province of Maku in Persia, and from the cities of Van, Khoy, Mush and Alashkert in Western Armenia. St Stepanos Church of the 19th century is located in the settlement and was thoroughly renovated in 1830 by Armenian families who resettled from Maku and settled in Zovaber. The church served as a house of faith until the 1930s, after which it was turned into a village warehouse by the decision of the USSR authorities, and now it is on the verge of collapse.
Tsaghkunk
Tsaghkunk is a village in the province of Armenia. The population is engaged in animal husbandry, cultivation of fodder crops and potatoes. The ancestors of the present population migrated from Maku, Khoi and Van in 1828-1829. The Church of the Holy Resurrection is located in the central part of the village, which dates back to the 19th century. In that village there is also the chapel of Saint Sargis, which dates back to the 7th- 19th centuries.
Varser
The first known reference to the settlement dates back to the 9th century, however the settlement is much older. There was a settlement established here B.C. Church St. Stepanos is located here.Until 1947, the settlement was called Chrchr, referring to the Chrchr waterfall from which the settlement got its name.