Abovian

city and center of Abovian Raion, Armenian SSR, with a population of 14,000 (1968). Situated 17 km northeast of Yerevan and 1,360 m above sea level, Abovian has a railroad station on the Yerevan-Sevan line. The city has a radio engineering industry, and plants for semiconductor devices and biochemical preparations are under construction (according to the data of 1969). Other industries include a furniture factory, a plant for reinforced concrete structures, and an enterprise for construction components. Abovian’s meat-and-dairy and vegetable-growing sovkhoz supplies Yerevan with produce and vegetables. The city, founded in 1963 on the site of the settlement Elar, was named after the Armenian writer and enlightener Kh. Abovian. The resort Arzni is located 6 km from Abovian