ARTSAKH HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Metz Gharamurat 24 Monuments

Azerbaijan (Country) / Northern Artsakh (Area) / Getabek (District) / Metz Gharamurat (Village)

Location

The village extends on the east-facing slope of a gorge lying on the left bank of the river Metz Gharamurat, 15 kilometres west of the district centre, between 1,200 and 1,270 metres of altitude above sea level.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 257.

Historical Introduction

The remnants of a Bronze Age castle preserved in its neighbourhood attest that it has been inhabited since time immemorial.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 257.

16 — 17 cc․

A village of a remarkable history, Metz Gharamurat gradually grew to the status of village town and particularly prospered between the 16th and 17th centuries, when the monastery of Harants and the convent of Koosanats (17th century) were erected there (it also had two churches standing in its centre). During the reign of Georgian King Heracle II, in the late 18th century, the Armenian inhabitants of Gandzak District were deported to Shulaver, i.e. the present-day township of Shahumian in Marneul District of the Republic of Georgia. As alleged by a source, however, about 25 families from Gyulambar and Gharamurat escaped that forced resettlement and established a village named Aygedzor (Ghulali) in Shamshadin District.

Gaspar H. The Traditions of a Village. In: “Nor-Dar,” 1889, No. 50.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 257.

1890 y․

Interestingly enough, more than a century after the complete devastation of the village, in 1890, a visitor wrote, “...truly, Gharamurat used to be a town and not just an ordinary village...”

Yeghishe Charents Art and Literature Museum. Sargis Kamalian Fund, copy-book No. 1, VI-11, p. 28. Below follows an interesting account of the feelings and impressions of S. Kamalian and his companion Tzatur, who visited Metz Gharamurat in 1890, “...the monastery was located on the left bank of the river, quite near it. While dismounting the horse, I noticed Tzatur hurriedly approaching it and kissing its wall fervently. Instead of blessing his forefathers, however, he started cursing them for having abandoned that heavenly land with its sweet water and magnificent sanctuary and huddled up on the slope of this or that mountain. ‘Why should this monastery be forsaken and left without anybody to take care of it? Why should it shelter buffaloes and cows and be filled with dirty dung? Why should the inhabitants of Legharak, I mean the grandchildren of Gharamurad, lose it in this way? Can’t we do anything about this, my dear teacher?’ Yes, Tzatur was really greatly upset and grief-stricken: he either swore and cursed his ancestors who had abandoned the monastery and their land or reproached the local Ayrum inhabitants who did not differ from animals and were absolutely unaware how to treat a house of God which should not be filled with dirt. I asked Tzatur some questions concerning the neighbourhood of Gharamurad. The village was located at the foot of a mountain which was called Tebelkhi. To the right of it rose another wooded mountain named Hasan Ali, behind which towered Mount Haza-Daya, with the peak of Gevog-urd west of it. A mountain rising east of the forest of Hasan Ali was called Darvand. Some tributaries, flowing from a gorge lying between Hasan Ali and Darvand, merged with others, running from a ravine extending between Hasan Ali and Tebelkhi, and formed the river Gharamurad, whose last tributary was called Areghsan” (idem, p. 28).
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 258.

The stock-breeding tribes that later arrived at Metz Gharamurat “inherited” large territories once belonging to the indigenous Armenians: “...Turning westwards, we went past an elevation to a valley through which ran the fast-flowing stream Inag-Boghan. These areas, that comprised large plains and abundant rivers once belonging to Gharamurad Armenians, lay barren in the hands of the Ayrum barbarians.”

Yeghishe Charents Art and Literature Museum. Sargis Kamalian Fund, copy-book No. 1, VI-11, p. 33.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 258.

Population
1770 y․

When Metz Gharamurat was stripped of its inhabitants in the 1770s, part of them resettled in Shulaver and founded the quarter of Gharamuratetsots (i.e. ‘Of Gharamurat Inhabitants’), as already mentioned above.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 258.

19 c․

Uuntil the second half of the 19th century, the site of the abandoned Armenian village served as a summer encampment for the Ayrum cattle-breeders, who later shifted to a sedentary life and founded a settlement there.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 258.

According to H. Vardanian, “The Turkish residents of Gharamurad Village are Armenian Prince Gharamurad’s descendants.”

Vardanian, H. A Few Words about the Ayrums. In: “Mshak,” 1914, No. 154, p. 2.
Presumably, the author means the Ghara Murat mentioned in the undated colophon of a Haysmavurk of 1610.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 258.

1886 y․

In 1886 the local community and the adjacent Ayrum-inhabited villages had 326 houses with 2,176 residents, including 1,296 males and 880 females. In contrast to this, in 1908 Metz (‘Beyuk’ in Turkish) Gharamurat alone had 205 inhabitants, whose number had grown to 395 by 1914.

Yelizavetpol Province: A Statistical Survey Based on the Family Lists of Caucasia's Population. Tiflis, 1888, pp. 76-77.
Caucasian Calendar for 1910, Tiflis, 1909, p. 204.
Caucasian Calendar for 1915, Tiflis, 1914, p. 99.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 259.

Families
1770 y․

In the late 1770s, part of the inhabitants of Gharamurat resettled in Shulaver, where they established a quarter after their abandoned village, i.e. Gharamuratetsots. In the late 19th century, eight families of Gharamurat Armenians were particularly famous there: the Ter-Vardanians (‘Vrtanank’ in the local dialect), Ghardashians (‘Gherdashank’), Tzanians (‘Tzanunk’), Zakarians (‘Zanunk,’ Arzumanians), Mkhitarians (‘Ptrosank’), Balasanians (‘Belsanank’), Kamalians (‘Kmalank’) and Aghbalians (‘Gyorkhnank-Mushtunk’).

Aslanian, S., Karapetian, S. Shulaver. Yerevan, 2002, p. 25.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 267.

The village from the north (seen from the site of Harants Monastery) Type Photo
View General
Direction From the north
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative

A carpet with an Armenian piece of writing (1914) found in the house of a local Turkish inhabitant Type Photo
View General
Source Black-and-white negative
Date 1980 y․