St. Hakob Church :: ARMENIAN HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

St. Hakob Church

Georgia / Javakhk / Akhalkalak / Orojalar

Description
1867 y․

Until 1867 the available archive documents speak of Orojalar as deprived of a parish church, but from 1868 onwards, mention is made of a church dedicated to St. Hakob. The local residents still remember that the masters who built it were from Ghulalis. Evidently, the church was erected in the site of an older one, probably, with part of its stones. The vestiges of the older sanctuary comprise a high relief set in the eastern facade of the present-day church and engraved with an inscription in the Georgian Mesropian script.

Հայաստանի ազգային դիվան (National Archives of Armenia), ֆ. 53, ց. 1, գ. 3853: Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 549.

Relief, High Relief

Type Photo
View Exterior
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Colour Negative
Date 1998 y․

A window frame (10th to 11th centuries) richly-adorned with high reliefs set in the eastern facade of St. Hakob Church (once it belonged to the older church of the village, which is at present annihilated without any trace).

Type Photo
View Partial view
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Colour Negative
Date 1998 y․

Inscription, Georgian Mesropian, Engraved, Commemoration

Carved on the eastern facade of the church:
დ(ე)რ(ე)ნ(ი)გ (?) Transl.: Derenig.

Published in: ერძენიშვილი ნ., ჯავახეთის 1933 წლის ექსპედიციის დღიური: სის. N, 1964, გვ. 65. Karapetian. Samvel, Javakhk, Yerevan, 2011, p. 549. Note: N. Berdzenishvili, who visited Orojalar in 1933, describes this high relief (exterior dimensions: 185 x 85 centimetres) as representing two donators (or men) with an angel standing between them and pronouncing a blessing over them. This scholar, however, does not offer any decipherment for the inscription: დ || პ - (?) || ან || ლ || დ || - - ჩნ || ა || გ || ზ || ლ || - გ || ე - (ი?) || ყე || || კ || ნ Most probably, N. Berdzenishvili confused something while describing the high relief, for the eastern wall of the church bears only the representations of two people with absolutely complete contours. D. Berdzenishvili and the other members of the editorial staff of “ჯავახეთი. ისტორიულ-ხუროთმოძღვრული გზამკვლევი” deciphered the inscription in the following way, guided by their own groundless suppositions: დრნგ, მჴეცი, ანგელოზი, დლკ, სიმონ and ქრისტე შეიწყალე მჴეცი (transl.: “D[e]r[e]ng,” “Mkhetsy,” “Angel,” “Simon”: “Christ, may You have mercy upon Mkhetsy”).

Type Copied Lapidary Inscription
View Exterior
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Non-Specified

Type Photo
View Exterior
Direction From the south
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Colour Negative
Date 1998 y․

Type Photo
View Exterior
Direction From the east
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Colour Negative
Date 1998 y․

Type Photo
View Partial view
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative
Date 1988 — 1989 yy․

A partial view of the part adjoining the eastern corner of its southern facade