ARTSAKH HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Zarist 3 Monuments

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

Historical Introduction
1246 y․

The toponym Zarist was first recorded in 1246, in the building inscription of the Gtich monastery as a village (or a small district) subject to this Episcopal See.

"Corpus", Issue 5, compiled by S. Barkhudarian, Yerevan, 1982, p. 183.
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 161.

19 c․

The toponym designating a small district was mentioned again in the records of the 19th century. Thus a record executed in 1841 mentioned the villages Gharaghshlagh, Arkatali, Karintak and Harar, included into the Zarist district and inhabited by Armenians.

SCHARA, F. 56, 1. 1, case 305, p. 45.
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 161. Gharaghshlagh was one of the foreign denominations of Berdadzor, known also under the name of Kaladarasi.

Zarist, as a district was also mentioned by Archbishop Jalaliants.

S. Archbishop Jalaliants, Journey to Great Armenia, Tiflis, 1858, vol. 2, p. 351; Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 161.

Contemporaneous documents mentioned also some priest Hovhannes as the benefactor of the Zarist district.

Hakob H. Topchian, The List of Collection of Dadian Khachik Vardapet, part 2, Vagharshapat, 1900, p. 25.
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 161.

1862 y․

The record of 1862 relating to some priest Hakob, the spiritual shepherd of the Armenian village Alghuli, mentioned that the village entered into the Zarist district.

SCHARA, F. 57, 1. 1, book 139, p. 17.
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 161.

19 c․

However since the end of the 19th century Zarist was more commonly mentioned under its Kurdish name - Haji-Samlu, for instance, in 1906 the same Alghuli is already included into the Haji-Samlu district.

"Mshak", 1906, N 2, Jan. 4, p. 2.
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 161.

Bishop Barkhutariants directly indicated the fact that Haji-Samlu was identical to the historical Zarist: “... Zarist, the present day Hajisamlu or Hajilar.”

M. Bishop Barkhutariants, Artsakh, Baku, 1895, p. 26 (in Arm,).
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 161.

Description

Bishop Makar Barkhutariants noted also that the historical Zarist abounded in Armenian monuments: “Ruined villages and churches are not scarce both in the resort of Zarist and in its environs.”

M. Bishop Barkhutariants, Artsakh, Baku, 1895, p. 134.
By the way, while using this source H. Eprikian has misrepresented Zarist as "a ruined settlement in the Varanda province of Artsakh" (H. S. Eprikian, Illustrated Geographical Dictionary, vol. 1, Venice -"St. Lazarus, 1903-05, p. 763) (in Arm.).
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 161.

Historical Introduction

Official records of the pre-soviet period use only the toponym Haji-Samlu. In the first decade of the 20th century Haji-Samlu was the administrative center of 28 villages.

"Caucasian Calendar for 1917", Tiflis, 19I6, Statistical Section, p. 53-54 (in Russian).
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 161.

19 c․

It deserves mentioning that Zarist continued to preserve its administrative significance upon being renamed. In the early 20th century some French businessmen started timber production here. The factory and the settlement built by the French were exterminated in 1918 by wild Turkish and Kurdish mobs led by Sultan Bek from Minkand: “... brothers Sultan Bek and Iskender inspired brutal assaults on Armenian villages (Vank, Balluja, etc). Sultan Bek totally destroyed and robbed the settlement in Haji-Samlu built by the French company...”

G. A. Hovhannissian, Establishment of the Soviet Power in Hagorno Karabakh, Yerevan, 1971, p. 102 (In Arm.).
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 161.

Name	Year/Century	Etymology
Haji-Samlu