ARTSAKH HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Pokr Gharamurat 7 Monuments

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

Location

The village is situated on the south-facing slope of a gorge lying on the right bank of the river Gharamurat, 12 kilometres west of the district centre, at an altitude of 1,300 to 1,380 metres above sea level.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 280.

Historical Introduction
1610 y․

The medieval written sources keep silence about it, but the colophon of a Haysmavurk of 1610 makes reference to Metz Gharamurat, a fact attesting to the existence of a smaller village of the same name (it was called Metz Gharamurat to be differentiated from the other village).

Colophons of the Armenian Manuscripts of the 17th century, vol. 1. Compiled by Hakobian, V., Hovhannissian, A. Yerevan, 1974, p. 367.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 280.

Description
1890 y․

An investigator who visited the village in 1890 describes it in the following way, “Continuing our way along the right bank of the river, we hurriedly made for the monastery we had seen in the distance: it was situated on the flat slope of a rocky mountain. At first the village was called Ghara Bulagh, but some people claim it should be named Gharamurad, alleging that this is Pokr Gharamurad, the one located on the other side of the mountain being Metz Gharamurad. Above this village, which is inhabited by Ayrums, a church of semi-ruined walls can be seen, with part of its roof covering the bema remaining intact. Apparently, it is not a long time since the rest of it was demolished, for its interior is filled with the stones of the roof, walls and pillars, overgrown with rust, burdock and nettle. Entering the church over the lower part of a wall and reaching the vestries, I noticed some empty hives in the left one. The entrance to the other was buried under soil and stones. There are no inscriptions: all of them have been scraped away. ...The church is surrounded by numerous graves and cross-stones: probably, they used to bear inscriptions which are lost beyond retrieve, for the Ayrums are in the habit of feeding their cattle and sheep on salt poured right on these stones. Everywhere you can see some yard sites.”

Yeghishe Charents Art and Literature Museum. Sargis Kamalian Fund, copy-book No. 1, VI-11, pp. 26-27. Below follows an interesting description of the road leading from Pokr to Metz Gharamurat, “Opposite the church, in a south-easterly direction extends a gorge adjoined by numerous encampments and mountain huts. The most important of them is Mount Karut called ‘Genlegeldagh’ among the local Turks. Following some footprints seen near the aforementioned church, we started descending and approached a narrow channel formed by the water of a fast-flowing spring running from below a mountain rising in the south of the sanctuary. Its water seemed to push its way through some black stones; hence derives the name of the village, i.e. ‘Gharabulagh’ [‘Gharabulagh’ is the Turkish equivalent for ‘Black Spring’]. A little below this spring stands a functioning mill: we proceeded on an ancient, bumpy road stretching above it. Passing through a thick forest, we found ourselves in the valley of a stream, on the left bank of which about 20 houses of Ayrums lived. The residence of a wealthy Ayrum standing on the roadside had been built with the finely-dressed stones of the church. Both above and below the sites of the former yards can be seen cemeteries which retain magnificent gravestones: none of them has escaped the brutal hands of the savages. Almost all of them are broken, scattered here and there and covered with animal droppings so that it is highly difficult to make out anything in the epitaphs carved on them. These yards and graves once belonged to the rich inhabitants of Gharamurad who emigrated to Shulaver located near the river Khram in the days of horror and terror. The former prospering houses that amounted to several hundreds have now been replaced by several sunken dwellings of Ayrums where pressed dung is burnt. Although the area is remarkable for fertile soil and tasty water, there are only ruins everywhere, their sight rending my heart. I could never imagine that the former homeland of the residents of Gharamurad, now sheltered in Shulaver, was so magnificent. With my heart imbued with sadness and plunged in thoughts, I was riding my horse in the direction of the monastery standing in the middle of a picturesque valley...” (idem, p. 27).
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, pp. 280-281.

Another researcher who visited the village reports, “...It is an Armenian village presently inhabited by Turks, but retaining a semi-ruined church and a cemetery.”

Barkhutariants, M. Artsakh. Baku, 1895, p. 308.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 282.

Population
18 c․

The village was totally abandoned in the ‘70s of the 18th century, when “...its inhabitants moved to Shulaver under last Georgian King Heracle. Over about a century, the site of the derelict village served as a summer encampment for some nomadic Turkish stock-breeders who eventually changed to a sedentary life in the 1880s and founded a settlement there.

Barkhutariants, M. Artsakh. Baku, 1895, p. 308.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 282.

Population

Dates	Total (Turks)	Notes	Source
1908	246		Caucasian Calendar for 1910, Tiflis, 1909, p. 276; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 282.
1914	447		Caucasian Calendar for 1915, Tiflis, 1914, p. 142; Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 282.