Goykumbat 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 27 km to the northwest of the town of Gamarli, adjacent to the Zangi River, towards the Mount Zarinja, at a height of 870 m above sea level. In “The Iravan Province Comprehensive Data Book” dated 1590 it is marked as “Goygunbaz”, and on the five-verst map of the Caucasus as “Goy-Kumbat”.

The village was solely inhabited by Azerbaijanis: 21 in 1831, 166 in 1873, 200 in 1886, 230 in 1897, 252 in 1908, 280 in 1914 and 241 Azerbaijanis in 1916. In 1918 the residents of the village were deported by Armenian armed forces, and the Armenians removed from abroad were settled there. The surviving Azerbaijanis managed to return to their homeland following the establishment of Soviet power in present-day Armenia. Along with the Armenians, the village was inhabited by 98 Azerbaijanis in 1922, 162 in 1926 and 174 Azerbaijanis in 1931. 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 inhabitants of the village were relocated in Azerbaijan by force. Although a small number of families who were deported in the 1950s returned to their homelands, they were again completely deported in the 1970s. At present, only Armenians reside in the village.

The toponym was coined by combining the Azerbaijani word “goy” meaning (blue) color, and the Persian word “kümbəd” meaning “a roof in the shape of a hemisphere, dome”. In the Azerbaijani language the sound substitution of d~z is typical.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 1 December 1949, the village was renamed “Geghanist”. 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.

Geographical coordinates: latitude: 40°08’ N., longitude: 44°26’ E.