Shahbulagh Castle :: ARMENIAN HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Shahbulagh Castle

NKR / Aghdam / Vankasar

Location

A little further, to the south of the full spring, known as Shahbulagh, in the southeastern foothill of Vankasar there is a castle surrounded by an oblong fortress wall, strengthened by semicircular towers in the corners and central part. It is a quadrangular, small but rather well fortified castle.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 213.

Description

Yeghishe Senior priest Gueghamiants wrote in regard of this castle that “Panah Khan was the first to build a fortress on the ruins of Tarnagyurt or Tigranakert. The castle was destroyed by Armenian meliks and then reconstructed by the Persians.” We are informed that soon after the murder of Nadir Shah in 1747, Panah Ali, taking hold of the fortress of Bayat allied with the nomadic tribe Kabirli and “rebelled with his nomadic Tatars and proclaimed himself the Khan of Karabakh.”

"Meghu Hayastani", 1885, N 64, p. 4 (in Arm.).
Ruins of the fortress of Bayat or Boyat are situated near the Aghjabedi village. V. Potto, Ibid. Yerevan, 1974, p. 6-7 (in Arm.).
See also V. Potto, The Caucasian War in Several surveys, episodes, legends and biographies, vol. 1, issue 3, St. Petersburg, 1885, pp. 405-418 (in Russian).
E. Weidenbaum, Guide-Book on the Caucasus, TifTis, i 888, p. 394-395 (in Russian).
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 213.

1749 y․

“To succeed in the battle with hostile tribes and Armenian meliks... Panah set to the building of a new fortress, in the place named Tarnakut, over the large spring of Shahbulagh, near the borderline of Khachen. Establishing there in 1749 he built a market and a mosque in that new fortress and confronted the meliks of Jraberd and Gulistan, trying to breach their unity.”

Leo, Selected Works, vol. 3, Book 2, Yerevan, 1973, p. 265 (in Arm.).
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 213.

1752 y․

For a short period the castle of Shahbulagh, named after the neighboring spring, was the only standpoint to Panah, but in 1752 Panah moved to the fortress of Shosh (Shushi), donated to him by melik Shahnazar.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 213.

1805 — 1812 yy․

The fortress of Shahbulagh was already beginning to decay, when it suddenly acquired new strategic importance due to the events of 1805-12, when the Russian commanders Koryagin and Kotlyarevski assisted by the Armenian volunteers won a number of victories over the Persian troops.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 213.

Historical Introduction
1890 y․

It deserves mentioning that a French couple, Shantre spouses travelling from Gandzak to Shushi visited the site in 1890 and described it as follows: “... The ruins all around, which unfortunately, were too scattered, led us to the conclusion, that being the place of particular importance, the fortress of Shahbulagh, had played a significant role in the history of Armenian nation.”

"Bazmavep", 1892, p. 154 (in Arm.).
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 213.

19 c․

Visiting the site in the end of the 19th century bishop Makar merely stated “... another new fortress, completely built of processed stone is called the fortress of Tarnagut or Shahbulagh.”

M. Bishop Barkhutariants, Artsakh, Baku, 1895, p. 28.
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 213.

Repairs
1980 y․

This fortress was renovated together with Vankasar in the beginning of the eighties of the present century.