Church :: ARTSAKH HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Church 17 c․

NKR / Kashatagh / Bjants

Location

The church still standing in the center of the village is presently strongly endangered in spite of the traces of numerous renovations.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 166.

Historical Introduction
19 c․

Since the end of the 19th century the Kurds have used this church as a hayloft. The church was still used for the same purpose during my first trip in 1985.

"Anthropological Review". Book 4, N 2, Tiflis, 1898, p. 49.
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 166.

Description

Presently the timber roofing of the church has totally collapsed and only the walls built of coarse stone and mortar are standing. The church was planned as a single nave basilica, with twin pilasters as if to support the vault. Nevertheless it seems, that there had never been any vault and the building was covered by timber from the very beginning, because the walls were of equal height and were not bent towards the vault. Most surprising was the quadrangular altar apse, with two square sacristies by both sides. The only door was in the western wall. Medium thickness of the walls was 110 cm and the dimensions - 11.70 x 8.20 m. Numerous khachkars and gravestones dating from the XIV-XVII cent were fastened into the masonry of external walls. Most of them were placed into the corners of the building, near the entrance and windows, mainly for the purpose of firmness.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 166.

A number of cross-stones (12th to 17th cc.) and tombstones (14th to 17th cc.) are preserved in the church walls and in the vicinity.

Kortoshian, Raffi. The Endangered Christian Armenian Heritage of Artsakh, Yerevan, 2022, p. 105.

Type Photo
Direction From the south-east
Author Samvel Karapetyan

Type Photo
View Interior
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative

Entrance