“GEGHARD”
SCIENTIFIC ANALYTICAL
FOUNDATION
2025
2025
In the second section of the 1898 issue (25th edition) of the Collection of Materials for the Description of Localities and Tribes of the Caucasus E. Melik-Shahnazarov provides information about the Armenian village of Artsvanik in the Zangezur district of the Elizavetpol governorate.
According to the author, the village is called Yeritsvanik, named after the nearby monastery of Yeritsakavank. The monastery, built of red limestone, was also known as the Red Monastery. According to the renowned Armenian historian Stepanos Orbelian, it was constructed in the 11th century by Bishop Yeritsak. Artsvanik, being the property of the monastery, served as a winter residence for the monastic community. The author mentions that the old church was still standing in the village cemetery. In the early 18th century, Fath Ali Khan devastated the village and destroyed the monastery. The author also provides information about Melik-Frangul, a traitor born in Artsvanik, who was killed and buried far from the village, separately from the cemetery.
E. Melik-Shahnazarov provides important details about the one-class school opened in the village in 1882, as well as the diet, daily life, and customs of the village inhabitants.
Artsvanik was one of the five prominent villages in the third police section of the Zangezur district, which comprised 19 rural communities. As of 1893, the village had 114 houses with 910 Armenian residents. The author notes that the dialect of Artsvanik's inhabitants was very similar to the Armenian dialect of Shushi.
The accurate documentation by this contemporary eyewitness once again confirms the indigenous status of Armenians in the region, whose ethnic identity remained unaffected even under foreign dominations.
Currently Artsvanik village is in the Syunik province of Armenia.
Photo by Hetq.am