Church > St. Astvatsatsin Church of Jraberd (Mulkudara)

St. Astvatsatsin Church of Jraberd (Mulkudara)

Location

St. Astvatsatsin Church (Figs. 1, 2) is located in the center of Jraberd (Mulkudara) village of Hadrut region.

Fig. 1 The church from the south, 2019, photo by G. Budaghyan.

Historical overview

Mulkudara village (Fig. 3) is located 11-12 km southwest of the city of Hadrut. The village was evacuated of Armenians in 1991 as a result of Operation Ring.

It was liberated in 1993 and renamed Jraberd. Only a few families returned to the village, who left the settlement in the following years. Jraberd has been under Azerbaijani occupation since October 2020.

Architectural-compositional examination

St. Astvatsatsin Church is a 19th century structure by its composition. It is a rectangular single-nave hall. The barrel vault rests on longitudinal and transverse arches rising from the columns attached to the walls (Fig. 4). The roof is gable, covered with soil. It is built of local white limestone. The only entrance opens from the south. A fragment of a gravestone of the 16th-17th centuries, decorated with cross-shaped compositions, has been preserved in the southern wall (Fig. 5). During the Soviet years, the church was used as a village club.

Fig. 4 The church from inside, 2019, photo by G. Budaghyan.

Fig. 2 The church from the east, 2019, photo by G. Budaghyan.

Fig. 3 Mulkudara village and the church, 2019, photo by G. Budaghyan.

Fig. 5 The fragment of a tombstone in the southern wall, 2019, photo by G. Budaghyan.

The condition before, during and after the war

The church was not damaged during the Artsakh wars. No information is available on the post-war situation.

Bibliography

1․ Mkrtchyan Sh., Historical and architectural monuments of Nagorno Karabakh, Yerevan, 1985.

St. Astvatsatsin Church of Jraberd (Mulkudara)
St. Astvatsatsin Church of Jraberd (Mulkudara)
St. Astvatsatsin Church of Jraberd (Mulkudara)
Artsakh