ARTSAKH HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Hunchak 7 Monuments

NKR (Country) / Kashatagh (District) / Hunchak (Village)

Historical Introduction

This is a village of rich historical past, one of the best known within the Kashatagh province.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 157.

The first to mention the village named Hunchak407 was St. Orbelian, in the list of the Aghahej province villages. Based on the amount of the tithe due to the Tatev monastery - 12 measures, it was the second largest village in the province, one of the most densely populated settlements in the Middle Ages already.

Stephanos Orbelian, History of Syunik, Yerevan, 1986, p. 399.
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 157.

For the second time the village was mentioned as Hochants, also related with the tax due to the Tatev monastery. The tithe to be paid in produce (3450) was also one of the largest in the province.

The Chronicle of Stephanos Orbelian, Annex, Yerevan, 1942, p. 24.
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 157.

17 c․

Further records refer to the early 17th century. As witnessed by Arakel Davrizhetsi upon graduating the Large Desert of Tatev University and desiring to lead a hermit life bishops Thovma and Kyrakos founded a new expiatory in the vicinity of Hochants. Particularly, the two mentioned clergymen founded a desert near the village. “... Father Kyrakos and bishop Thovma went to the Hochants village in the land of Kshtagh, and built a desert and lived there. ... And Father Kyrakos, who went to Hochants, stayed in the desert near the Hochants village in seclusion, with religious ardor, and died there in the year 1620, and passed to his beloved Christ, in whom he trusted deeply and worshipped constantly, and there is an honorable memory of him, his body buried in that place, to the glory of Christ the blessed God, forever. Amen”.

Arakel Davrizhetsi, "Book of History", Yerevan, 1990, p. 222 (in Arm.).
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 157.

17 c․

Hochants was also mentioned in regard of the late 17th century events, when the Armenian residents of the Karbi village encountered the Kurds, living in their tents: “And they left the place of their residence and spread, some to the Georgian land, others to Albania, Zakam, Ganja, Khachen, Varand and other places, wherever each of them could go. And the residents of Karbi stood unanimously on Saturday, preceding the Vafdavar feast, and moved to the land of Kashtagh, and reached Hoches, and met many Kurdish households living in black tents.. .”

"The Historiography of Zaqarea Senior Priest", Vagharshapat, Vol. B, 1870, p. 9 (in Arm.).
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 157.

Name	Year/Century	Etymology
Hochants
Hoches
Hochaz