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H.F.B. Lynch, "Armenia. Travels and Studies" (1901)
various panoramic photos
Siphan = Süphan Dağı, Patnotz = Patnos (nowadays centre of district in Ağrı province)
Mount Varag = Erek Dağ.
Mount Varag = Erek Dağ.
Melazkert = Malazgirt (nowadays centre of a district in Muş province), Sipan = Süphan Dağı
Lynch's impressions of the town:
"It had scarcely become day when the deep voice of the venerable Kaimakam (Governor of a kaza or district) was heard beside our tent. He had come to enquire after our needs; and he promised to endeavour to obtain a turkey from one of the Circassian villages in the plain. But when I asked whether he were acquainted with some educated person, capable of indicating to us the various objects of interest, and perhaps of connecting them to the history of the town, his face became a blank, and he was emphatic in declaring that,by Allah ! no such individual existed in Melazkert. But was there no school, no Armenian teacher ? I pressed him, but he spoke the truth when he answered in the negative. He added "All the people here are very little people, occupied by the pressing needs of daily life. They have already forgotten what happened forty years ago, and they will remember your visit for fortty years. Beyond these limits they have no knowledge whatever".
The Kaimakam was right; Melazkert is a heap of ruins, from which some pygmies have collected the stones and built tenements. A squadron of cavalry, quartered in the town, may lend a semblance of life; but it is a deceptive semblance, for the place is dead." (Lynch pp.270-271)