Church > The Grigor Narekatsi Church

The Grigor Narekatsi Church

Location

The Grigor Narekatsi Church (fig. 1) is located on a hill about one km to the west of Drakhtik village, Hadrut region. The name Narekavank is more common among the locals. Drakhtik has been under Azerbaijani occupation since October 2020.

Fig. 1 The general view of the church from the east, 2014, photo by G. Budaghian.

Historical Overview

The Drakhtik village is located 24 kilometers away from the city of Hadrut. M․ Barkhudariants mentions about the village: “The inhabitants are natives” (Barkhudariants 1895, 58).

Architectural-Compositional Examination

It is a single-nave hall with a rectangular plan. It is 13 meters long, 8 meters wide, 4 meters high. The building ends inside with a semicircular apse. The cupola rests on arches rising from three pairs of wall columns. It has a two sloped roof in outside. The only entrance opens from the west. The light comes from the windows that are opened in the west and the east walls. The western facade is decorated with four khachkars (fig. 2, 3), a phenomenon that is especially typical of the church building of the 17th-18th centuries. Inside the church there are several small khachkars fixed to the walls, there are also khachkar sculptures on the columns and arches (fig. 4, 5). The date of construction of the church: ՌՂԴ։(1645) is preserved on one of the hewn stones surrounding the entrance (fig. 6) and on the north central wall column inside the church (fig. 7).

An old cemetery is surrounding the church.

Fig. 2 The khachkars of the eastern wall, 2020, photo by G․ Budaghian

Fig. 3 One of the khachkars of the eastern wall, 2020, photo by G. Budaghian.

Fig. 5 The khachkars fixed on the Eastern window, 2020, photo by G. Budaghian.

The State of the Church Before, During and After the War

During the first Artsakh war, the eastern wall of the church and a part of the cupola were damaged by enemy shelling (fig. 8). The church has not suffered from the military operations of 2020, there is no information about the post-war state.

Fig. 4 Cross sculptures on the arch, 2020, photo by G. Budaghian.

Fig. 6 The date of the church construction on the entrance hewn stone, 2020, photo by G. Budaghian.

Fig. 7 The northern wall column, 2020, photo by G. Budaghian.

Fig. 8 The ruined part of the church, 2014, photo by G. Budaghian.

Bibliograpy

  1. Barkhudariants 1895 - Barkhudariants M. Artsakh, Baku.
  2. Mkrtchian Sh., Historical and Architectural Monuments of Nagorno Karabakh, Yerevan, 1985.
The Grigor Narekatsi Church
The Grigor Narekatsi Church
The Grigor Narekatsi Church
Artsakh