Shamlugh

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Shamlugh is a town located in Lori province (marz), Armenia. It is situated on the left bank of Debed River it is 203 km from Yerevan capital of Armenia. It is famous for its Bronze age cemetery and it also has a cross monument which dates back to 13th century.
The first settlers of Shamlugh were Greek miners from Gyumushkhane, who migrated to the area to build a copper factory in 1770. The Greeks were settled here by King Erekle II of Kartl-Kakheti. The population of Shamlugh reached its peak in 1979, with about 4,500 inhabitants, with a majority of Greeks and Armenians, and a minority of Azerbaijanis. However, following the breakup of the Nagorno-Karabakh War, in 1988-1989 most of the Azerbaijanis migrated to Azerbaijan. Following the closure of the Shamlugh copper mine in 1989, the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the resulting economic crisis, the population of the settlement has further declined to around 500 as per the 2016 official estimate, with a majority of Armenians and a minority of Greeks.
The Armenians of Shamlugh belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church regulated by the Diocese of Gougark. The small community of Greeks is served by the Saint George's Greek Orthodox chapel, opened in 1909.