The Selim (Sulema) caravanserai: a 1332 inn on an Armenian mountain pass
The road that climbs from Yeghegnadzor towards Lake Sevan winds up to a bare pass at 2,410 metres, the Selim pass, and just below the saddle, pressed against the hillside, there is a long, low building of dark basalt with a single door. This is the Selim caravanserai, which Armenians also call Sulema: an inn for caravans built in 1332 and the best preserved of those left in Armenia. It is worth knowing where it is, because many guides put it somewhere else.
What a caravanserai is
A roadside inn for caravans: a courtyard or a covered hall where merchants, camels and mules slept together, with the goods in sight and a single door that was closed at night. There was one at every day's march on all the routes between Persia, the Caucasus and Anatolia. Almost all have been lost; this one survived because it is far from everything and because the stone is good.
Who built it
The inscription at the entrance, in Armenian and Persian, says so: it was commissioned in 1332 by Prince Chesar Orbelian, of the family that ruled the Syunik region under the Mongols, "for the rest of travellers". The Orbelians also built Noravank, an hour from here, and were among the few Armenian lords with the money and the permission to build in those years.
What you see
A small vestibule with the inscription and two animal reliefs, one of them a lion or a griffin, and behind it a hall 25 metres long divided by pillars into three aisles: the central one for people, the side ones, with mangers, for the animals. Light comes in only through a few openings in the vaulted roof, so inside it is dark and cool even in August. There is no ticket office and no opening hours: you stop the car, go in and come out.
Where it is and how to fit it in
On the Selim pass, on the mountain road linking Yeghegnadzor, in Vayots Dzor, with Martuni, on Lake Sevan. It is the road you take to go from Noravank or Jermuk to Sevan without going back through Yerevan, and the caravanserai is the stop at the top, with views down the valley on both sides. In winter the pass may be closed by snow. It should not be confused with the province of Tavush, in the north-east, where some pages place it by mistake.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Sulema caravanserai?
An inn for caravans from 1332, built by Prince Chesar Orbelian on the Selim pass, at 2,410 metres, between Vayots Dzor and Lake Sevan. It is the best preserved in Armenia.
Is it well preserved?
Yes. The hall, the pillars, the vestibule and the inscription are complete, after a restoration in the 1950s. It is not a museum: there is no ticket office, no opening hours and no staff.
How do you get there?
By the Selim pass road, between Yeghegnadzor and Martuni. By car it is the natural stop between Noravank and Lake Sevan; no public transport reaches the pass.
