Surb Stepanos church of Jrakus

Surb Stepanos church of Jrakus

Location

Jrakuys or Jrakus is a village in the Hadrut region, on the north-facing gorge slope of Vnesa Mountain (Mkrtchyan 1985, 114). The ruins of Surb Stepanos Church are situated in the village center. The village, like the rest of the Hadrut region, is occupied by Azerbaijan.

Historical overview

According to the preserved inscription, the church was built in 1698. Makar Barkhudayants, in his brief description of the village and the church, also quotes the church's inscription: "This church of Surb Stepanos is built in memory of the poor hicks in the year of 1698.” (Barkhutareants 1895, 72-73, cf, CAE 5, 172).

Architectural-compositional examination

Makar Barkhudaryants presented the church as a three-nave basilica with a rectangle hall constructed of rough, unpolished stones of varying sizes.

The church measured 17.55 x 11.24 feet (Barkhutareants 1895, 73). At the moment, only the ruins of the church's tabernacle have been preserved (Figs. 1, 2). A large cemetery surrounds the ruins of the church, with mostly 19th-century burials (Figs. 3, 4).

Fig. 1 The ruins of the church's tabernacle. The photo is from the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of the Republic of Artsakh's database.

Fig. 3 The granary around the church. The photo is from the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of the Republic of Artsakh's database.

Fig. 2 The ruins of the church's tabernacle. The photo is from the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of the Republic of Artsakh's database.

Fig. 4 The granary around the church. The photo is from the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of the Republic of Artsakh's database.

The condition before and after the war

During the Soviet era, the church had already been destroyed. The ruins were not damaged during the Artsakh wars.

Bibliography

  1. Barkhutariants 1895 - Barkhutariants M., Artsakh, Baku.
  2. CAE 5 - Corpus of Armenian Epigraphy, issue 5, Artsakh, made by S. Barkhudaryan, Yerevan, 1982.
  3. Mkrtchyan 1985 - Mkrtchyan Sh., historical and architectural monuments of Nagorno Karabakh, Yerevan.
Surb Stepanos church of Jrakus
Surb Stepanos church of Jrakus
Surb Stepanos church of Jrakus
Artsakh