Shollu Mehmandar is a village in the Iravan uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Zangibasar (Masis) district, and currently in the Ararat province. The provincial centre lies 22 km to the northwest of the town of Gamarli (Artashat), near the Zangi River, at a height of 830 m above sea level. Before the establishment of the former Zangibasar district, it was part of the former Uchkilsa (Echmiadzin, Vagharshapat) region. Its name was noted as “Mehmandari Shollu” in “The Iravan Province Review Book”, and was marked “Shorlu Mehmandar” on the five-verst map of the Caucasus.

The village was solely inhabited by Azerbaijanis: 406 in 1831, 1,573 in 1873, 1,432 in 1886, 1,824 in 1897, 1,455 in 1904, 1,632 in 1914, 2,969 in 1916 and 900 Azerbaijanis in 1919. In late 1919, the Azerbaijanis were deported from the village having been exposed to the aggression of Armenian armed units. Following the establishment of Soviet power in the territory of present-day Armenia, the surviving villagers were able to return to their lands. The village was inhabited by 788 Azerbaijanis in 1922, 1,010 Azerbaijanis in 1926, 778 Azerbaijanis in 1931, but 1,419 Azerbaijanis and Armenians in 1959, 1,843 Azerbaijanis and Armenians in 1970, and 2,995 Azerbaijanis and Armenians in 1979. According to the decision of the USSR Council of Ministers “On the resettlement of collective farmers and other Azerbaijani population from the Armenian SSR to the Kur-Araz lowland of the Azerbaijan SSR” dated 23 December 1947, the Azerbaijani population of the village was forcibly deported to Azerbaijan in 1948–1949. Some of the displaced families were able to return to their homes in the 1950s. The Azerbaijanis lived in the village until 1988. In November-December 1988 the Azerbaijanis were deported from the village by the state of Armenia. At present, only Armenians live there.

The toponym was coined by combining the ethnonym “Chol”/“Shol” with the identifying suffix “-lı” and the personal name “Mehmandar” to denote “the village of Mehmandar from the Chol/Shol tribe”. It is an ethnotoponym.

It was renamed “Mehmandar” by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 3 January 1935, and “Hovtashat” by decision dated 25 January 1978. According to the law “On the administrative-territorial division of the Republic of Armenia” dated 7 November 1995, it was integrated into the administrative area of the Ararat province.

Geographic coordinates: latitude 40°05’ N., longitude 44°20’ E.