The Chapel of the Mataghis Village Cemetery

The Chapel of the Mataghis Village Cemetery

Location

The chapel of the Mataghis village cemetery is located south-west of the village, on the left bank of the Tartar River. Currently, the village of Mataghis is occupied by Azerbaijan.

Fig. 1 General view of the chapel and the cemetery, Photo from the Certificate of the Ministry of ESCS of the AR.

Historical Overview

The cemetery of the village Mataghis dates back to the 19th and 20th centuries, but the presence of a chapel-church on the site, a number of tombstones and uncut stones on graves suggest that the cemetery was built in the vicinity of a former sanctuary (Figs. 2, 3).

Fig. 2 The western front of the chapel. Photo from the Certificate of the Ministry of ESCS of the AR.

Fig. 3 The interior of the chapel. Photo from the Certificate of the Ministry of ESCS of the AR.

The chapel does not have an exact date. According to the Certificate of Preservation of Monuments of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Artsakh Republic, it is not excluded that the chapel was built in the 12th-13th centuries (Figs. 4, 5).

Makar Barkhudaryants, who described the village of Mataghis and its church, does not mention the chapel of the cemetery (Barkhudariants 1895, 231).

Fig. 4 The old cemetery of Mataghis. Photo from the Certificate of the Ministry of ESCS of the AR.

Fig. 5 The chapel and the old tombstones. Photo from the Certificate of the Ministry of ESCS of the AR.

Architectural-Compositional Description

The chapel is a single-nave vaulted building, built of local gray, rough and semi-hewn big and small stones with lime mortar, it had a two-pitch roof. The only entrance is from the west. The only window is on the east side. The height of the chapel is 4.5 meters, inside it measures 3.8x2.23 meters.

The State of the Church before and after the War

The church was not damaged during the Artsakh wars. There is no information about the chapel after the occupation of Mataghis village.

 Bibliography

1․Barkhudariants 1895 - Barkhudariants M.  Artsakh, Baku.

The Chapel of the Mataghis Village Cemetery
The Chapel of the Mataghis Village Cemetery
The Chapel of the Mataghis Village Cemetery
Artsakh