Lorri is one of the provinces (marz) of Armenia. It is in the north of the country, bordering Georgia. Its capital is Vanadzor, a city (1989 pop. 75,616), in N Armenia, at the junction of the Pambak, Tandzut, and Vanadzoriget rivers. A rail center and a major chemical producer, it also manufactures textiles and foodstuffs. In 1935 the city was renamed Kirovakan, after Sergey Kirov. The city was devastated by the Armenian earthquake of Dec., 1988. The name Vanadzor was adopted in 1992. It is home to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Haghpat and Sanahin.

Haghpat ("Հաղպատ" in Armenian) is a village in the Northern Lorri province of Armenia, close to the city of Alaverdi and the state border with Georgia. It is notable for its Haghpatavank (Հաղպատավանք) monastery complex, founded in the 10th century and included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list.

The monastery complex belongs to the Armenian Apostolic Church, with numerous khachkars (stones with elaborate engravings representing a cross) and bishop gravesites scattered throughout the complex. The compex itself represents an outstanding and magnificent example of medieval Armenian architecture. It has been attracting increasing numbers of tourists, as numerous Armenian tour agencies have started including Haghpat in their itineraries.

The village itself receives little benefit from tourists and remains impoverished, with the majority of its residents keeping livestock and growing vegetables for food. Some residents are able to find work in the city of Alaverdi, about 10 km from Haghpat, while others gather berries (mainly blackberries and Cornelian cherry dogwood) from the nearby forests and sell them. Water is gathered from the numerous mountain springs, which are scattered in abundance throughout the area.

The village lies on a dissected plateau formation, a large flat area dissected by deep "cracks" formed by rivers, including the river Debed. The villages of Sanahin and Akner, as well as a part of Alaverdi, lie in plain view on neighbouring sections of the plateau, however a steep and long descent to and ascent from the river is required to travel to them.

Sanahin ("Սանահին" in Armenian) is a village in the Northern Lorri province of Armenia, now considered part of the city of Alaverdi (the cable car that connects it with the Alaverdi centre is supposed to have the steepest climb in the whole former USSR). The village is notable for its monastery complex, founded in the 10th century and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The name Sanahin literally translates from Armenian as "this one is older than that one", presumably representing a claim to having an older monastery than the neighbouring Haghpat. The two villages and their monasteries are similar in many ways, and lie in plain view of each other on a dissected plateau formation, separated by a deep "crack" formed by a small river flowing into the Debed river.

As with Haghpat, Sanahin is frequented by an increasing number of tourists, due to its recent inclusion on the itineraries of numerous Armenian tour agencies, the beauty of its monastery complex matching that of Haghpat's. The complex belongs to the Armenian Apostolic Church with numerous khachkars (stones with elaborate engravings representing a cross) and bishop gravesites scattered throughout it.

Sanahin was also the birthplace of the two well-known Mikoyan brothers. Artem Mikoyan was a well known airplane constructor, and one of the "fathers" of MiG. Anastas Mikoyan was the politician with the longest "career" at the Soviet politburo. He was involved in negotiating the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, was a member of the Soviet delegation trying to improve relations with Tito's Yugoslavia, and played a major role in the Cuban Missile Crisis negotiations. A fraction of visitors to the monastery also stop at the small nearby museum in the former school, run by Mikoyans' relatives.