St. Minas Church :: ARMENIAN HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

St. Minas Church 1675 y․

NKR / Kashatagh / Hak / Hayots Tagh

Location

We have already mentioned that the Armenian quarters of Minkand were situated within the area of historical Hak. The church of St. Minas, the cemetery, residential houses built in the 19th or the beginning of the 20th century are still standing, lower, at the bank of Aghavnaget, we found a two-span bridge and ruins of two water-mills.

SCHARA, F. 56, L. 14, c. 205, p. 25 (in Arm.).
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 127.

1858 y․

It deserves mentioning that in 1858 the spiritual authorities conceded to the request of the former residents of Khndzoresk, that later resettled in Minkand, and allowed them to use a standing church situated in one of the villages deserted by Armenians as a parish church: “they received the intercession of the former inhabitants of Khndzoresk, that resettled in Minkand, still remaining under the subordination of the Tatev monastery, to allow one of their covillagers to serve as a priest so that he could temporarily satisfy their spiritual needs, permitting him to read the prayer to the Lord over the profaned temple in the old stone church of their village for consecrating it ... (1858).”

SCHARA, F. 56, L. 14, c. 205, p. 25 (in Arm.).
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 127.

Architectural Description

The church, situated in the center of old quarters, is planned as a large three-nave basilica (22,58x12,60 m). It is built of coarse grayish-yellow stone and mortar.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 127.

Inscription, Armenian, Engraved, Construction 1675 y․

The inscription on the tympanum of the only entrance in the southern facade reads:
“THIS NEWLY BAPTIZED HOLY CHURCH WAS BUILT BY THE PEOPLE OF HAK IN 1675”.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 127.
The third line of the inscription is deliberately erased. The date: 1675 is inscribed in the right corner of the inscription, in script characteristic of the 19th century.

Inscription, Armenian, Engraved, Construction

In accordance with S. Khanzadian, the tympanum of the church contained an inscription which reads:
“I HAVE BUILT IT IN THE NAME OF THE HOLY VIRGIN. LORD HAVE MERCY.”

S. Khanzadian, What do the Stones Tell?, "Soviet Armenia Magazine", 1984, N 6 (in Arm.) this is an obvious confusion, because the inscription on the church tympanum is quit different, and the name of the church is St. Minas, and not Holy Virgin. "Ararat", 1879, Sept., p. 398-399 (in Arm.).
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 128.

Type Photo
Direction From the south-west
Author Samvel Karapetyan

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

Author Raffi Kortoshian
Date 2020 y․

View Interior
Author Raffi Kortoshian
Date 2020 y․

Name	Year/Century	Etymology
St. George	1856 y․