Monuments

Erasing traces of Armenian presence by destruction of historical monuments

Across the Azeri controlled areas, Armenian monuments which bear witness to Armenian presence have been destroyed. In numerous places in Karbakh, after the Armenians regained control over a particular area, they discovered that the Armenian churches, monasteries or Armenian inscriptions that tell of their heritage had been destroyed. This is confirmed when comparing new photos with the available archive images. However, the erasing of Armenian traces in Azerbaijan began much earlier than the modern Karabakh conflict, which is apparent in the dates of the below displayed images. The following are only few hand-picked images of the broad base of evidence.

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BAKU CITY. The church of St. Gregory the Enlightener in 1986 with its dome surmounted by a cross and the monument at present with the cross no longer in its place; partial views of the Armenian cemetery of the city (photos 1986)
   
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GAG, NORTHERN ARTSAKH. The monastery of Gag's St. Sargis, located at the top of Mount Gag, from the west; an inscription commemorating its renovation of 1838; the same inscription already deliberately scraped away as of 1985 (photo by S. Karapetian) and mostly broken in the early 2000s (photos from: www.bakililar.az/ca/eng/news/news9_eng.html; www.caucasianhistory.org)
   
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BANANTS VILLAGE, NORTHERN ARTSAKH. A general view of the village which lies stripped of its Armenian inhabitants since 1988; the belfry of St. Gregory the Enlightener's Church with its cross made and erected by Martiros Chalumian (photo by S. Karapetian,
1986); the church at present with the cross replaced by the flag of the country which holds the village under annexation.
   
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GANDZAK (GYANJA) CITY, NORTHERN ARTSAKH.The inscriptions of St. Hovhannes Church, now turned into a hall of cham-ber music, which have been deliberately scraped away (one of them ¥1633¤ commemorates the construction of the monu-ment, the other a donation ¥1643¤ made by a certain Tasal from Astapat, and the third one the making of the church door(1860) with Hovsep Grigoriants's means (the old photos by S. Karapetian, 1985 & the recent ones by F. Berlemont, 2007)
   
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HOGHER VILLAGE, HADRUT DISTRICT. The entrance to the church of Kavak Monastery with its construction inscription (1742) as of 1982 and after its liberation in 2009 (photos by Samvel Karapetian)
   
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KHERKHAPOR VILLAGE, SHAHUMIAN DISTRICT, REPUBLIC OF NAGORNO KARABAKH (annexed by Azerbaijan since 1992). The church of the ancient site of Mandur (architect Yeremia Yeghakertsy), 1252 (photos by Samvel Karapetian, 1982 & 1984)
   
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TZAR VILLAGE, KARVAJAR DISTRICT. Hundreds of fragments left after the destruction (1950s) of two churches situated in the villagecentre (St. Sargis and the Mother Church of the local people) together witha countless number of broken pieces from a large ceme-tery of cross-stones which were used as building material for the school of the same village (photos by Samvel Karapetian, 1993)