Shahpekar Monastery :: ARTSAKH HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Shahpekar Monastery

Azerbaijan / Northern Artsakh / Touz / Aghaj-Ghala

Location

Shahpekar (Aghaj-Ghala) Monastery stands in an elevated plain in a village site located about 6 kilometres south-west of Aghaj-Ghala.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 525.

A uni-nave vaulted basilica of the 16th to 17th centuries stands on the left side of a gorge, 6.5 km south-east of Khaghkhagh Village, Touz District. Its historical name has not come down to our days: the Turkic resettlers called it Shahpekar Monastery.

Karapetian, Samvel. Azerbaijan out of Civilization, Yerevan, 2017, p. 59.

Historical Introduction

The monastic complex, which has been preserved in a semi-ruined state, consists of a church and a destroyed graveyard extending around it.

Barkhutariants, M. Artsakh. Baku, 1895, p. 58.
Voskian, H. The Monasteries of Artsakh. In: “Handes Amsorea,” August to October 1951, p. 34.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 525.

Description

The photos show the church (labelled as Albanian by the Azerbaijanians) as of 1984 and the 2010s, exposing the premeditated destruction it has undergone in recent decades. As of the 2010s, it stood as stripped of its cornerstones; besides, the part adjoining its entrance and certain sections of its interior have been deliberately pulled down.

Karapetian, Samvel. Azerbaijan out of Civilization, Yerevan, 2017, p. 59.

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

Type Photo
View Exterior
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative
Date 1984 y․

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

Type Photo
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative
Date 1984 y․

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

Type Measurement
View Exterior
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Sketch

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

Date 1984 y․

Name	Year/Century	Etymology
Aghaj-Ghala