Shishgaya is a village in the area of Goycha of the Novo- Bayazid uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Basarkechar (Vardenis) district, and currently in the Gegharkunik province. The provincial centre lies 101 km to the southeast of the town of Kavar (Gavar), at the foot of the mountain, at a height of 2050 m above sea level.

The village, where the historical monuments related to the 13th-16th-century Azerbaijani Turks’ life, history and household have survived, was inhabited only by Azerbaijanis: 251 in 1831, 592 in 1873, 905 in 1886, 1,132 in 1897, 1,041 in 1908, 1,088 in 1914, 1,232 in 1916 and 632 Azerbaijanis in 1919. In early 1919 the Azerbaijanis were massacred or 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 villagers were able to return to their ancestral lands in the autumn of 1920. The village was inhabited only by Azerbaijanis: 461 in 1922, 612 in 1926, 863 in 1931, 1,076 in 1939, 1,426 in 1959, 2187 in 1970, 2291 in 1979, and 4,000 Azerbaijanis in 1987. On 24-30 November 1988 the Azerbaijanis, original inhabitants of the Shishkaya village, were deported from their historical-ethnic territories by the state of Armenia. At present, only Armenians live in the village.

The toponym was coined by combining the word “shish” used to mean in Azerbaijani “the top of a mountain, a hill, the highest point” and the word “gaya” used in the sense of “a branch separated from a range of mountains “, “a difficult passage made of rocks in a certain part of the mountains”, “a mountain, precipice” to denote “a village built near a high mountain”.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 3 April 1991, it was renamed “Gugarich” and by decision dated 8 August 1991, it was renamed “Geghamasr”. 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 Gegharkunik province.

Geographic coordinates: latitude 40°18’ N., longitude 45°40’ E.