Church :: ARTSAKH HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Church

Azerbaijan / Northern Artsakh / Dashkesan / Ghabaghtapa

Location

The aforementioned church, situated on the roadside, in the centre of the village.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 151.

Architectural Description

Represents a three-nave, vaulted basilica (exterior dimensions: 21.75 x 13.30 metres) of rectangular plan. Its vault, lying below a gable roof, is inwardly supported by vault-bearing arches resting on two pairs of pillars and pilasters. The central nave ends in a semi-circular bema in the east, and the two aisles terminate into rectangular vestries. Each of the eastern, western and southern facades of the sanctuary has three narrow windows widening inside and illuminating the entire building. Its bema, sacristies as well as the northern and southern walls have some small, rectangular niches. Both christening basins, typical of the Armenian religious buildings of the 16th to 17th centuries, lie in the north of the church. The monument, whose entrance opens in the south, is built of roughly-hewn stones and mortar, but its pylons, false arches as well as the entrance tympanum and cornerstones are finely-cut. By the time we visited it in 1986, many parts of its interior had been destroyed, the handiwork of those searching for treasure there.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 151.

Historical Introduction
1986 y․

Two of the church pillars used to bear some brief inscriptions, but by 1986 they had disappeared.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 152.

19 c․

In the late 19th century, the church building housed a Muslim school (medrese).

"Ardzagank," 1888, No. 6, p. 72.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 154.

Inscription, Armenian, Engraved, Commemoration 1692 y․

Carved on one of the aforementioned pillars:
I, Khosrov, in the year 1692.
The Armenian original published in: Barkhutariants, M. Artsakh. Baku, 1895, p. 302; Lalayan, Yer. Gandzak District. In: “Azgagrakan Handes,” vol. 5, Tiflis, 1899, No. 1, p. 312.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 152.

Inscription, Armenian, Engraved, Commemoration 1706 y․

Incised into the other pillar:
In the year 1706.
The Armenian original published in: Barkhutariants, M. Artsakh. Baku, 1895, p. 302; Lalayan, Yer. Gandzak District. In: “Azgagrakan Handes,” vol. 5, Tiflis, 1899, No. 1, p. 312.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 154.

Type Photo
View General
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative
Date 1980 — 1982 yy․

Type Photo
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative
Date 1980 — 1982 yy․

Type Measurement
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Sketch

The plan

Type Photo
View Interior
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative
Date 1980 — 1982 yy․