Church :: ARTSAKH HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Church 16 — 17 cc․

NKR / Kashatagh / Arekli

Location

A single nave vaulted basilica still standing in the southern edge of the Upper Arko village has an essential compositional peculiarity.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 163.

Architectural Description

The sacristies, situated to the right and left of the altar apse, in the eastern side of the church are much wider and step out of the main quadrangle of the basilica. Besides the sacristy doors open directly into the altar apse. The semicircular vault was covered with gabled roof, the building material was coarse stone and mortar. Interior was plastered. Dimensions are 9.60 x 5.20 m (in the eastern facade -10,70 m), the walls were 1 m wide. The church had two entrances, one in the southern and the other in the northern facades. The former was blocked while the church was still functioning (at least 200 years ago).

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 162. Compositionally similar to the church in Amenaprkich monastery of the Nukzar village of Shamkhor district, or the church of the village Poladlu of Getabek district, or the Targmanchats monastery church of Khachakap, etc.

Description
15 — 16 cc․

In spite of the absence of any building inscriptions, a few tombstones fastened into the walls may well date back to the XV-XVI cent.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 162.
Kortoshian, Raffi. The Endangered Christian Armenian Heritage of Artsakh, Yerevan, 2022, p. 170.

Repairs
16 c․

It seems this church was built in stead of the older ruined one in the XVI-XVII cent.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 162.

Description
1246 y․

This may be proven by the donatory inscription of 1246, fastened over the window case in the eastern side of the apse.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 162.
Kortoshian, Raffi. The Endangered Christian Armenian Heritage of Artsakh, Yerevan, 2022, p. 170.

The rocks not far north of the church are adorned with simple crosses.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 162.

Inscription, Armenian, Engraved, Donation 1246 y․

It was carved on finely processed stone and contained 5 lines. The beginning and the end of the inscription were built into the masonry, that is why it is impossible to reconstruct the text completely.
“THE YEAR 1246... ARMENIA[ ] IN THE PRINCIPALITY OF TA... THE SON OF MASTER KON... OUR.”

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 162.

Type Photo
Direction From the south-west
Author Samvel Karapetyan

Type Photo
Direction From the north-west
Author Samvel Karapetyan

Type Photo
Direction From the north-east
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative

Type Photo
Author Samvel Karapetyan

A tombstone (XVI cent) fastened into the eastern facade of the church