St. Eghishe Arakyal Church :: ARMENIAN HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

St. Eghishe Arakyal Church

Azerbaijan / Northern Artsakh / Khanlar / Getashen

Historical Introduction

The available archive documents and scientific works suggest several names for the church of the monastic complex: Sourb Astvatzatzin, St. Sargis and St. Elisha the Apostle.

National Archives of Armenia, fund 56 list 6, file 775, p. 25.
Barkhutariants, M. Artsakh. Baku, 1895, p. 265.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 383.

Architectural Description

It represents a tri-nave basilica (exterior dimensions: 12.30 x 10.20 metres) of gable roof, its semi-circular vaults supported by vault-bearing arches resting on a pair of pillars. The monument, whose only entrance opens from the west, is entirely built of finely-cut stone and mortar, six windows providing it with illumination. Exactly 10 metres south of the church, five vaulted rooms (exterior dimensions: 30.40 x 5.70 metres) extend east-westward together with two corridors. According to an inscription incised into the facade of one of them, they date back to 1712 and are built of undressed stone and mortar.

Corpus Inscriptionum Armenicarum, part 5. Compiled by Barkhudarian, S. Yerevan, 1982, p. 238. This part of the Corpus Inscriptionum Armenicarum contains five inscriptions which we found unchanged during our visit to the monument in 1989. They are deciphered absolutely correctly so that we did not find it expedient to republish them (idem, pp. 237-238).
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, pp. 383-384.

West of the church, the semi-destroyed gate of the monastic complex is preserved. The southern wall of the sanctuary bears the fragments of a khachkar broken in two. Its stylistic and artistic peculiarities trace it back to the period between the 11th and 12th centuries.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 384.

Inscription, Armenian, Engraved, Commemoration 1539 y․

A single line in the Armenian original of an inscription carved below the capital of the western pilaster of the church:
1539.

The Armenian original published in: Corpus Inscriptionum Armenicarum, part 5. Compiled by Barkhudarian, S. Yerevan, 1982, p. 237.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 384.

Inscription, Armenian, Engraved, Commemoration 1584 y․

8 lines in the Armenian original engraved on the northern side of the church entrance:
... 1584. I, worthless priest Ghazar, wrote.
The Armenian original published in: Barkhutariants, M. Artsakh. Baku, 1895, p. 265; Lalayan, Yer. Gandzak District. In: “Azgagrakan Handes,” vol. 5, Tiflis, 1899, No. 1, p. 345; Corpus Inscriptionum Armenicarum, part 5. Compiled by Barkhudarian, S. Yerevan, 1982, p. 238.
Misreading: Lalayan deciphers the year as ‘1311.’
Note: According to the fifth part of Corpus Inscriptionum Armenicarum, the composition of the building and the style of the inscription are characteristic of the 16th century. The encoded year can be deciphered in the following manner: 1000+13+20+551=1584.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 384.

Inscription, Armenian, Engraved, Commemoration 1686 y․

5 lines in the Armenian original inscribed on the southern side of the church entrance:
In the year 1686. I, worthless priest Ovanes.
The Armenian original published in: Barkhutariants, M. Artsakh. Baku, 1895, p. 265; Lalayan, Yer. Gandzak District. In: “Azgagrakan Handes,” vol. 5, Tiflis, 1899, No. 1, p. 345; Corpus Inscriptionum Armenicarum, part 5. Compiled by Barkhudarian, S. Yerevan, 1982, p. 238.
Note: Lalayan offers an incomplete decipherment, with the name read as ‘Movses.’

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 384.

Inscription, Armenian, Engraved, Commemoration 1712 y․

4 lines and a single encoded one in the Armenian original carved above the entrance of one of the rooms of the monastery:
This splendid room was built with an upper storey in the year 1712, ...decorated with representations of the Holy Virgin and Ghazar the Theologian.
The encoded part reads: God’s servant Father Ghazar.
The Armenian original published in: Lalayan, Yer. Gandzak District. In: “Azgagrakan Handes,” vol. 5, Tiflis, 1899, No. 1, p. 346 (the decipherment is incomplete); Corpus Inscriptionum Armenicarum, part 5. Compiled by Barkhudarian, S. Yerevan, 1982, p. 238.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 384.

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

The construction inscription of one of the rooms (1712)

Inscription, Armenian, Engraved, Commemoration

A cryptogram incised into the facade-bearing stone of one of the rooms of the monastery:
God’s servant Father Mkrtich.
The Armenian original published in: Corpus Inscriptionum Armenicarum, part 5. Compiled by Barkhudarian, S. Yerevan, 1982, p. 238.

Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 384.

Type Photo
View Partial view
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Colour Negative
Date 1980 — 1982 yy․

Partial view of its western facade

Type Photo
View Exterior
Direction From the south-west
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative
Date 1980 — 1982 yy․

Type Photo
View Exterior
Direction From the south-east
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative
Date 1980 — 1982 yy․

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

Partial view of its western facade

Name	Year/Century	Etymology
Sourb Astvatzatzin
St. Sargis