Vanadzor Postal code

Vanadzor is the third-largest city in Armenia and the capital of Lori Province, which is in the north of the country. A city called Yerevan is about 128 kilometres (80 miles) north of the city's centre. A census taken in 2011 showed that there were only 86,199 people living in the city. That's down from the 148,876 people who were counted in 1979. There are about 82,200 people living in the town now based on official estimates from 2016. Armenian Apostolic Church: Vanadzor is the home of the Diocese of Gougark, which is based there. Vanadzor was called Gharakilisa (or Karakilisa) in Turkic when it was built in the days of the Russian Empire. This means "black church" in Turkic. Martunashen was changed to Martunashen in 1926 after Armenia was taken over by the Soviet Union. Some time later, on January 3, 1935, it changed its name to Kirovakan, after the Russian Bolshevik leader Sergey Kirov, who was killed on December 1, 1934, the year before. Vanadzor was finally changed to Kirovakan on June 25, 1992, when Armenia became an independent country. The Vanadzor River, which flows through the city, is named after it. The name Vanadzor is made up of two Armenian words: vank, which means "monastery, church," and dzor, which means "valley." There is a monastery or church in the city's name.