The Monastery of Ptkatagh

Historical overview

The namesake village used to be located in this area, about which M. Barkhudaryan gives scarce information, testifying that: “There are several Armenian large families in Ptkatagh․․․” (Barkhutaryants 1895, 72). The inhabitants later moved to the neighboring village of Tsakuri, and at present only the half-standing church remains from the village.

Architectural-compositional examination

Only the church, built in 1670, has survived from the monastery (Harutyunyan 1992, 402). It is a single-nave hall with a rectangular plan, it has a semicircular altar on the eastern side, on both sides of which there are vestries (Fig. 3). It is 10,50 meters long, 5,30 meters wide, 4,50 meters high. The only entrance opens from the west (Fig. 4), it has four small windows, one of which opens to the west, three to the east. It used to have a vaulted ceiling, the roof was gable on the outside, it was built of local raw stones. Uninscribed khachkars are embedded in the walls (Fig. 5), on one of which is inscribed “The Cross of Tadevos”, on the other – “The Cross of Halo”. A part of an inscribed stone has been preserved, which is most likely the building inscription (Fig. 6).

Gravestones and traces of various buildings have been preserved in the area of ​​the church.

The condition before, during and after the war

The walls of the church have been preserved, the vault is completely collapsed. The church was not damaged during the military operations of the Second Artsakh War, there is no information about the post-war condition.

Literature

1․ Barkhutaryants 1895 – Barkhutaryants M., Artsakh, Baku.

2․ Harutyunyan 1992 – Harutyunyan V., History of Armenian Architecture, Yerevan.

3․ Mkrtchyan Sh., Historical and Architectural Monuments of Nagorno Karabakh, Yerevan, 1985.