The Old Bridge of Avetaranots

The Old Bridge of Avetaranots

Location

The bridge is located on the south-eastern side of Avetaranots village in Askeran region of the Artsakh Republic (currently under the control of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan), at the starting segment of the old Avetaranots-Madatashen route, on the March tributary of the Varanda River (Figs. 1, 2).

Fig. 1 The general view of the bridge, photo by H. Petrosyan.

Historical overview

According to the four-line building inscription preserved on the upstream-looking facade of the bridge, it was built in 1663 (Fig. 3). The inscription says: “This bridge is in memory of mahtesi (pilgrim) Aran, in the year of 1663” (Karapetyan 2009, 68).

Architectural-compositional description

It is a single-span bridge, built of rough stones and lime mortar (Fig. 4). The length of the span is 6 m, the width of the passage is 3.10 m, the height above the water level is 4.35 m (Karapetyan 2009, 68).

Fig. 2 The general view of the bridge, photo by H. Petrosyan.

Fig. 3 The inscription embedded onto the facade of the bridge, photo by H. Petrosyan.

Fig. 4 The measurement and section of the bridge, Karapetyan S., The Bridges of Artsakh, Yerevan, 2009, p. 69.

The situation before, during and after the war

Before the war, the monument was complete. No information is available about the bridge during or after the war.

Bibliographic examination

Information about the monument is scarce. We received the main information from S. Karapetyan’s work dedicated to the bridges of Artsakh, where the building inscription was published for the first time (Karapetyan 2009, 68-69).

Bibliography

  1. Karapetyan 2009 – Karapetyan S., The Bridges of Artsakh, Yerevan.
The Old Bridge of Avetaranots
The Old Bridge of Avetaranots
The Old Bridge of Avetaranots
Artsakh