Garegin Nzhdeh, while the central park of the town was named after Vazgen Sargsyan. During the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, Kapan was bombarded by artillery coming from the neighboring Zangilan District of Azerbaijan, causing deaths among the civilian population. This prompted an Armenian operation to capture several nearby Azerbaijani border villages in December 1992. Geography and climate Kapan is the largest town in the Syunik province as well as the entire region of southern Armenia. It is located in the eastern part of Syunik, within the narrow valley of the Voghji River with a length of from the east to the west, at the southeastern slopes of the Zangezur Mountains, between the Bargushat and Meghri ridges. The town is about north of the Iranian border. With a height of 3201 meters, Mount Khustup is the highest peak of the region. The elevation of Kapan is 750–1050 meters above sea level, with an average height of 910 meters. Two tributaries of the Voghji River, Vachagan and Kavart, flow through the town. Kapan has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSk) with hot summers and cold winters. Temperatures can reach up to during summer, and can fall to during winter. The Shikahogh State Preserve, founded in 1958, is located around south of Kapan, near the Shikahogh village. The preserve is home to about 1,100 species of plants, 70 of which have been registered in the Red Book of Armenia. The fauna of Shikahogh has not been fully explored, but studies have revealed rare species of animals such as leopard, wild goat, bear, viper, and hedgehog. Demographics Kapan is a major historic centre of the Armenian civilization within historic Syunik. A sizable Jewish community lived in its own quarter in Kapan during the Middle Ages. During the first half of the 19th century, many Russian and German engineers and workers arrived in Kapan to work in the copper mines of the region. In 1850, Greek specialists also arrived in the town. The Greeks built the Saint Catherine Orthodox church near Kapan in 1865. The population of Kapan was at its peak with 45,711 citizens as per the 2001 census. However, the population has greatly declined during the first decade of the 21st century to 34,600 as per the 2016 official estimate. Currently, Kapan is almost entirely populated by ethnic Armenians who belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church. The town's Saint Mesrop Mashtots Church