ARTSAKH HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Shalva 31 Monuments

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

Historical Introduction

Shalva is situated just in the center of the valley. It is the largest village in this area. Although there are no records of its existence, the church and khachkars still standing amid the village witness that the village existed since at least the Middle Ages and had been one of the most prosperous settlements populated by Armenians.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 159.

Description

Shalva is a long and narrow village extending along the left bank of the Shalva River (dimensions: length -1,3 km; width - 150-200 m). The village is on the altitude of 1480-1540 m above the sea. The oldest residential quarters were the southern side of the village.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 159.

19 c․

A few settlements up the Shalva river course were renamed, upon being occupied by the Kurds, to Ghavushugh, Azizpeyasi, Zor-Keshish (above Shalva, at the left bank), Boodaghdara, Palchkhli, Velibeyli, Narshlar (at the right bank of Shalva), Ulukhan (Imamlar), Seidlar (Dambulagh), Kagha (presumably the Keghadzor village mentioned by St. Orbelian), Hatamlar (at the left bank of Shalva) and Dashlu (3 km down by the river course). All of them lost their historical names. The only reminder of the former Armenian population was the name of the Keshishtapa mount (the Priest's mount) situated 1.5 km north of the Hatamlar village. Its altitude is 2291 m over the sea. Traces of former Christian population may be also seen in the toponym Zor-Keshis (Zor=strong, insistent, and Keshish= Priest).
Several other settlements, situated in the valley of Ghorchu, the left hand tributary to Shalva, were occupied by the Kurds in the XIX-XX cent and are presently known only under their Kurdish names: Shapakand (Oghuldara), Zaghalti, Gharachanlu (Ghorchu), Lilobaghrli (Lalabaghrli (In conformity with M. Barkhutariants - Lilabak ("Artsakh", p. 403) (in Arm)) , Gharabekli, Arekli (presumably the Arko village, mentioned by St. Orbelian), Kurjabulagh (Ghorchubulagh), Kurd-Haji and Munjukhlu.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, pp. 159-160.

Almost each of these villages bears such obvious traces of Armenian culture as mostly fragmented tombstones removed from the Armenian cemeteries and reused in the house masonry. Parts of Armenian cemeteries were preserved in the southern sides of Munjukhlu and Kurd-Haji villages.