TRAVELING TO KARABAKH IS AN ELUSIVE PRIZE FOR MANY VISITORS
Wednesday, May 8th, 2013 |
Posted by Matthew Karanian
The Artsakh Army marching band (Photo by Matthew Karanian) EDITOR’S
NOTE: For a second time, Asbarez is teaming up with travelogue Matthew
Karanian to present a travel special to serve as a guide for its
readers who are planning a trip to Armenia and Karabakh.
Matthew Karanian is the author of ARMENIA AND KARABAKH: THE STONE
GARDEN TRAVEL GUIDE, which was published in February. This title is
the first commercial travel guide to independent Armenia and Karabakh.
To order by mail in the USA, send check or money order for $30
postpaid to: Stone Garden Productions; PO Box 7758; Northridge,
CA 91327. For credit card orders and for orders outside the USA, go
to BY MATTHEW KARNIAN The destination is
elusive because it’s so far out of the way. There are no scheduled
flights, and visitors have to arrive overland.
Starting from Yerevan, this adds one day of travel each way.
Karabakh is also a prize, however, because of the abundance of cultural
sites here that attest to the region’s ancient Armenian heritage.
What To See The Monastery of Amaras is one of these prizes. Amaras
is located in the south of Karabakh, and is famous as the site at
which Mesrop Mashtots taught the unique Armenian alphabet roughly
1,600 years ago.
The link between Mesrop and Amaras is a vivid illustration of the link
between the nation’s religious history and its linguistic heritage.
The antiquity of Amaras is not uncommon for Karabakh.
In the far northwest, several structures from the Armenian monastery
of Dadi Vank survive today. This complex is unequaled in its mysticism
and majesty among the churches of Karabakh.
The buildings of Dadi Vank that are now at this site were all built in
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and have been recently restored.
According to legend, however, the monastery was originally established
in the first century AD. The site had been destroyed, and then rebuilt,
about 800 years ago. Scholars are undecided, but if this legend is
true, then Dadi Vank would gain distinction as the oldest Armenian
monastery in Karabakh.
Tigranagert (Photo by Matthew Karanian) Tigranakert may be the grandest
prize of Karabakh, however, at least for visitors who are interested
in archaeology and in ancient Armenian history.
Students of Armenian history are familiar with the ancient settlement
of Tigranakert that is located in western Armenia, in an area that
is today controlled by Turkey. The settlement is named for Tigran
the Great, an Armenian leader who presided over Armenia’s greatest
expansion in ancient time, from 95 BC to 55 BC.
It is less widely known, however, that three additional settlements
were built and named for Tigran the Great. One of these other
Tigranakerts is in Karabakh, and was built in the first century BC.
This Tigranakert is located just north of the villlage of Askeran,
and west of Aghdam, in central Karabakh.
Visitors arriving at the site will first notice a large structure
looming alongside the road that looks like a castle. Most of this
Tigranakert is today an archaeological dig site, however, and is
operated by archaeologist Hamlet Petrosyan, Ph D. The castle is
relatively modern, and only about 300 years old.
The ruins of this ancient Tigranakert are evident today to any
visitor. But Petrosyan recalls the time, not so long ago, when its
existence was little more than a hypothesis.
Petrosyan walked the site with me recenlty and explained how, years
earlier, he had seen what he believed were remnants of walls. He saw
large depressions in the topography that didn’t appear to be natural.
“We can suppose that here we will find something,” he told me, while
pointing to a field that appeared to be just a field-except for a
modest depression that might hide the long-buried foundations of
civic buildings.
Petrosyan and his team of archaeologists from the Armenian Academy of
Sciences Institute of Archaeology, began excavating the site in 2005.
They discovered that this Tigranakert had a citadel, a central
business district, churches, suburbs, and cemeteries. The city was
built entirely from the local white limestone, and Petrosyan’s research
suggests that it was occupied until the fourteenth century.
They also determined that the site was founded in the first century BC.
In 2008, the area was designated the Tigranakert Historical-Cultural
Reserve by the government of Karabakh. Vast areas of the 2,136 hectare
site remain unexcavated, however, because of limited funding for
the project.
Known ruins at the site include a fifth century church that, at 29
meters long, is one of the largest religious buildings in the Caucasus
from this era. Excavations have revealed Armenian inscriptions on the
church dating to the fifth century, as well as a primitive khatchkar
(stone cross).
The church was destroyed, probably during the ninth century, and its
stones were used in the 18th century as building material for the
castle towers over the site. All that remains of the church structure
today is its massive foundation, now exposed, at several feet below
ground level.
The greatest cultural treasure of Karabkh, however, is without doubt
the monastery of Gandzasar.
Even the name of this monastery attests to its status. The English
translation of Gandzasar is “treaure mountain,” and to view the
splendor of its architecture is to understand why. Some scholars and
historians consider Gandzasar to represent one of the top masterpieces
of Armenian architecture.
Construction of the main church at Gandzasar was begun in AD 1216.
According to legend, the church was builit on the location of a shrine
that contained the skull of St. John the Baptist. The skull had been
brought here from Palestine.
The exquisite bass reliefs carved on the exterior walls of the
monastery depict the Crucifixion, Adam and Eve, and two ministers
holding models of the church above their heads, as an offering to God.
There are about 150 separate inscriptions, engraved in stone and
using the Armenian alphabet, throughout the complex.
Gandzasar is functioning today, and is the seat of the Archbishop of
Artsakh of the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The site is
located 50 kilometers north of Stepanakert.
Use Stepanakert Or Shushi As Your Base Karabakh covers a small
geographic area, roughly the size of the US state of Delaware. A
visitor can easily see all the sites described above, as day trips,
while staying in the captial city of Stepanakert, or in the nearby
historic town of Shushi.
Stepanakert is the closest thing that Karabakh has to an urban area,
with a population of about 50,000. There are several tourist class
hotels and a handful of restaurants. This is also the seat of the
government. Don’t be surprised if you bump into the President of the
country while walking along Freedom Square, at the center of town.
Because Stepanakert is the capital, and a center of population for the
country, it is also a transportation hub, allowing visitors to use a
scheduled mini-van to go to the cultural sites described in this story.
Traveling by public mini-van is a good way to meet local people,
even if you don’t speak Armenian. But getting around with a private
driver, or in a cab, at a cost of only about 25 cents per kilometer,
is an inexpensive alternative, especially if you’re traveling in a
group of two or three. If you are lucky, you may be able to rely upon
your cab driver for translation services, too.
Shushi has good modern class hotels, and serves as a good hub from
which to make day trips. Shushi was once a significant cultural capital
for Armenians. The town was reduced to ruins during the final days
of Soviet rule, and has been rebuilt during the past decade.
There’s much talk of a Shushi revival lately. If you choose to stay
in Shushi for part of your journey, you may be able to help contribute
to the revival, or at least bear witness to it.
When To Go Shushi Liberation Day is celebrated each year on May 9,
and is a grand time to visit. The holiday commemorates the day in 1992
that Shushi was recovered from the enemy by Armenians. There’s usually
a parade in Stepanakert. There are commemorative events in Shushi,
too, but most of the celebrating is done in Stepanakert. This might
be partly because the population of Stepanaker is tenfold the number
of people who live in Shushi.
But the significance of Shushi’s liberation to the people of Karabakh
is certainly the greater reason. The liberation of Shushi in 1992
is credited with saving Karabakh, since the Shushi highlands control
access to Armenia and hence to the rest of the world. The liberation of
Shushi thus ended the enemy’s seige of Stepanakert and made Karabakh’s
independence possible.
Karabakh Independence Day, on September 2, can also be a memorable
time time for a visit. These are both popular holidays, and visitors
should reserve hotel rooms well in advance.
Apart from these holidays, visitors to Karabakh generally don’t need
advance hotel reservations, even during the so-called high season
of summer. The destination is just too far off the well-worn tourist
paths of neighboring Armenia.
Logistics VISA: A visa is required, and can be obtained in advance in
Yerevan or after your arrival, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
in Stepanakert.
MONEY: Credit cards are rarely accepted. ATM machines are located
throughout Stepanakert, and dispense Armenian Dram, which is the
official currency. US dollars in small denominations may sometimes
be negotiable.
TRANSPORT: Mini vans and buses depart Yerevan’s Kilikia Central Bus
Station each morning, and arrive in Shushi and Stepanakert several
hours later. Vans and buses for the regions of Karabakh depart
Stepanakert’s central bus station on Azatamartikner Street.
HOTELS: In Shushi, the tourist class Avan Shushi Plaza
(). In Stepanakert, the high-end Armenia Hotel
().
FURTHER READING: “Armenia and Karabakh: The Stone Garden Travel Guide,”
(), was published in February and is the
top guide.
Nagorno Karabakh Or Artsakh?
A parade in Karabakh (photo by Matthew Karanian) BY MATTHEW KARANIAN
Nagorno Karabakh is an amalgamation of foreign names that was imposed
on this region, and its etymology reflects the ongoing political
misfortunes of the region. Karabakh is widely accepted to be a mixture
of Persian and Turkish that means Black Garden.
The Russians added the adjective Nagorno, which means mountainous,
and dubbed the region Nagorno Karabakh.
The historic Armenian name for the region within which Nagorno
Karabakh is located is Artsakh, however. Since the adoption of
a new constitution in 2006, the state has been officialy known
interchangeably as bogth the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and the Artsakh
Republic. Eventually, say the country’s officials, the name will
revert to simply Artsakh.
Reprinted with permission from ‘Armenia and Karabakh: The Stone Garden
Travel Guide,’ ().
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