In October, a group of us embarked on a trip to unveil Syunik’s treasures in the villages of Angeghakot, Aghitu, Lor and Shenatagh. Under the guidance of Sevak Arevshatyan, a linguist and a connoisseur of khachkars (cross-stones), we set out at daybreak. The first leg of our journey was the enchanting village of Angeghakot, situated in the Sisian municipality of the Syunik province of Armenia.
According to the Dictionary of Toponymy of Armenia and Adjacent Territories, the village of Angeghakot, situated 9-10 kilometers to the northwest of Sisian city and on the high elevation of the Vorotan river left bank where the roads of Yeghegnadzor and Nakhichevan cross, was named Angelaut, Angeghagut, Angeghakuyt, Ankeghy and Anghilakut in the past (Yerevan 1986, p. 253). The population of the village significantly increased in 1828-1829 A.D. on account of settlers from Khoy and Salmast. Israel Ori, a prominent figure of the Armenian liberation movement, is said to have descended from Angeghakot. The village boasts St. Astvatsatsin, St. Stepanos and St. Hazaraprkich churches, as well as St. Vardan Zoravar sanctuary, where the commander’s exhausted army is believed to have stopped when returning from the Battle of Avarayr in 451 A.D.
From a linguistic point of view, the stem “kot” in the place name “Angeghakot” dates back to the Slutha-Saka tribes, who settled in Armenia from Baktria, as Nerses Mkrtchyan states in his book From the Biography of Words (Yerevan, 2004). The author further clarifies that in Pashto, an Eastern Iranian language, the word “kot” means “a small village; a castle,” as observed in place names like Puštunkot, Kalurkot, Tarinkot and Buronkot. Similarly, in the Armenian language, a number of place names and proper nouns, mainly in Syunik, were formed with the stem “kot,” such as Angeghakot, Brnakot, Koter, Koterk, Kotavank, Koti and Kot.
Upon arriving in Angeghakot, we headed towards the stairs leading to the rock-cut St. Vardan church, dedicated to Vardan Mamikonyan, the Armenian military leader and head of the Mamikonyan (388-451 A.D.) noble family, who led the historic Battle of Avarayr against Sasanian Iran in 451 A.D. Situated to the west of Angeghakot, on the brink of the road leading to Nakhichevan, the sanctuary is a popular pilgrimage site. Interestingly, the yard is surrounded by khachkars dating back to different ages. The rocky entrance leading to the church is cramped and low, making visitors bow upon entering. On the left side of the church is a small cave; meanwhile, adorning the entrance are two khachkars, which bear the black imprints of innumerable candles lit by pilgrims. The hard, rocky stones scattered all over the place testify that the church was badly damaged by earthquakes.
If the St. Vardan chapel in the Bayramyan community of Armenia’s Armavir province was built based on a dream, then the St. Vardan chapel in Tavush province was built in the vicinity of the tree planted by Vardan Mamikonyan. The St. Vardan church in Syunik’s Angeghakot village stands out as the sanctuary where Mamikonyan is said to have been buried by the Armenian army upon returning from the Avarayr battle, according to archaeologist and historian Morus Hasratyan.
In an article titled “St. Vardan Church of Angeghakot under the Light of Archaeological Researches,” issued in the Etchmiadzin Theological and Armenological Journal (2019 Ժ, pp. 59-74), Tigran Aleksanyan brings to light the outcome of the excavations, the burials in the southeastern part and anthropological and laboratory uncovered skeletons. The article reveals that extensive and large-scale excavations at the church were initiated by historian and archaeologist Morus Hasratyan in the 1960s, followed by excavations in the summer of 2018 on the initiative of “Land and Culture” (Arm. “Yerkir yev Mshakuyt”), a national organization with the view of fortifying through partial renovation and improving the area, carried out by archaeologist T. Aleksanyan, architect G. Gyulamiryan, anthropologist A. Khudaverdyan and excavating laborers from Sisian, Angeghakot and Shaghat. Subsequently, nine burials, pottery, khachkars and obelisks were uncovered in the wake of the excavations.
Interestingly, the uncovered khachkars date back to different ages (namely 9th-10th centuries, 10th-11th centuries, 12th-14th centuries and 15th-17th centuries A.D.). A number of obelisks have been uncovered, dating back to the 5th-7th centuries A.D., erected on the occasion of important events, such as Christian victories and struggles against foreign invaders, or to commemorate religious martyrs. As the closing lines of the above-cited article highlight, the obelisks formed a unique aspect of early medieval Armenian architecture, and they are known from a number of other ancient site excavations. The excavation findings also revealed that irregular renovations of the church in different periods of time distorted the original composition and structure of the church.
Our next destination was Aghitu village. Located in the Sisian municipality and on the left bank of the Vorotan river, Aghitu boasts a memorial (from the 6th -7th century A.D.) and a cave dating back to the paleolithic age. The Aghitu memorial is believed to have been a mausoleum of martyrs and a memorial of triumph dedicated to a decisive battle that took place near the village in the distant past. The memorial is decorated with geometric ornaments, as well as ornaments of pomegranates and vegetables, the latter being a ubiquitous architectural design feature of Armenian khachkars. It is of note that the architecture of the arches of the Sardarapat monument chapels derive from the Aghitu memorial.
In Aghitu village, our second stop was the Aghitu-3 cave. We reached this historic spot by strolling the vibrant village streets, picking mouth-watering apples and pears from the trees and enjoying their honey-sweet taste. Eventually, we reached our destination by passing through a house garden nestled in the vicinity of the cave. On seeing a group of visitors, the housewife laid a table adorned with fresh fruits from their garden and freshly-brewed coffee. After enjoying these delights, we clambered upwards, and the Aghitu-3 cave became visible.
The scholarly article “Introducing Aghitu-3, the First Upper Paleolithic Cave Site in Armenia” encapsulates the outcome of the Aghitu-3 cave excavations. The introduction states, “The Tübingen-Armenian Paleolithic Project (TAPP) was initiated in 2008 as a joint endeavor of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia and the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences […] In Aghitu, a village about 5 km east of Sisian, the team observed seven caves around the base of a flat-topped, basalt massif that arises 25-30m above the surrounding landscape.” Furthermore, the findings identified six geological horizons (GH), which the research group correlated with six archaeological horizons (AH), abundant charcoal remains, 54 chipped and 12 unchipped stone artifacts, 40 large mammalian remains from 52 faunal samples and a well-preserved sample of 441 microfaunal specimens belonging to mammals, birds and amphibians.
Next, we headed from Aghitu to the majestic Vorotnavank monastery, about 14 kilometers east of Sisian city, overlooking the Vorotan canyon between the villages of Vaghatin and Vorotan. As the signboard inscription of the Agency for Conservation of Historical and Cultural Monuments says, the monastery is known in documentary sources as the monastery of Vaghadn, founded by Queen Shahandukht of Syunik, King Smbat’s wife, in the 11th century.
According to the 13th century bishop Stepanos Orbelyan, the area was originally a pilgrimage site because of a church presumably built by and named after St. Gregory the Illuminator. Queen Shahandukht erected the vaulted church of St. Stepanos Naxavka (St. Stephen the Protomartyr) and many other structures for the monastery.
It is of note that St. Karapet church (built in 1006 A.D.) of the Vorotnavank monastic complex includes a 14th century wall painting, depicting two angels in a circle studded with stars.
The signboard installed inside St. Karapet church showcases that the wall painting is collocated on the northern apse and on the eastern side of the rounded wall. In the center of the circle, two angels are portrayed. The circle background is a deep sky blue studded with stars, and around its perimeter are the zodiac signs. Presumably, the wall painting belongs to the brush of Hovhan Vorotnetsi, a renowned philosopher and theologian. In 2011, the wall painting underwent a substantial restoration.
The cultural mood of the day reached its zenith upon visiting the village of Lor in the Sisian municipality, which is home to the outstanding Armenian poet Hamo Sahyan’s house-museum. Lor is a small village, depicted as “lavashachap” (i.e. lavash-sized) and “apachap” (i.e. palm-sized) in Sahyan’s writings. At the poet’s house-museum, we delved into Sahyan’s world under Knkush Harutyunyan’s guidance and effusive welcome.
Hamo Sahyan (Hmayak Sahaki Grigoryan) was born on April 14, 1927 in the village of Lor. In 1927, he moved to Baku, where he entered Baku Pedagogical Institute in 1935 and later worked as an editor assistant for the newspaper Communist. During his lifetime, the poet embarked on many jobs to lend a helping hand to his extended family. When the Great Patriotic War broke out, he joined the army. Under exploding bombs, tumult and fire, Sahyan wrote his famous work, Nairyan Dalar Bardi.
“On the front, I felt deeply my childhood soil; the soil of my adolescence. I felt the vivid connection with my country’s history. For hundreds of years, Armenians fought against foreigners for the sake of their independence. I felt the offspring of these ancient struggling peoples,” said Sahyan in one of his interviews.
After the Great Patriotic War ended, Sahyan married a beautiful lady, Maria Hakobyan, who bore two sons, Nairi and Ara. Nairi is the director of Hamo Sahyan’s Center. Sadly, Ara died an untimely death. Sahyan experienced many pains in his lifetime, including never having grandchildren.
Sahyan’s house-museum was built during his lifetime, when his literary life was in full swing. However, it remained unfinished at the time, since Sahyan did not want any events honoring him to be organized. The present house-museum, whose founding father is Gagik Arustamyan, was completed in 2013 (after raising approximately 34 million AMD in donations and financing) to commemorate Hamo Sahyan’s 100th anniversary in 2014.
The house-museum walls are decorated with pictures of Sahyan, his family and his contemporaries and quotations from household names extolling the poet:
“In our poetic world, Hamo Sahyan is the continuing torch-bearer of Kuchak’s, Toumanyan’s, Charents’s poetry,” said novelist Sero Khanzadyan.
“You are a painter of speech. In landscape, you are capable of depicting a portrait; in the portrait, depicting a landscape,” said Lev Ozerov, a Russian poet and translator.
“The rocks are people, the Sweetbrier (Arm. Masreni) is a man, the Vorotan river is a man… It seemed to me that the author himself is a man carved out of his poetry,” stated Alla Marchenko, a Russian literary critic and translator.
“Sahyan’s poem, the Sweetbrier (Arm. Masreni)…is all about his peoples; peoples who were able to create life out of dead stone and build life. And, generally speaking, the poem is about balancing the world, normalizing the chaos, creating the soil and the sky and finding the boundary between good and evil,” said Stanislav Rassady, a Russian literary critic.
We continued our journey to Shenatagh village, to taste the “sour water,” rich in minerals with a strong, unique flavor. From Shentatagh, we visited the Melik Tangi bridge, constructed in 1855 A.D. by the Sisian province governor Melik Tangi II. The Tangyans are believed to have settled in Brnakot from Ani, the capital city of Armenia in 961-1045 A.D.
We then headed to the Tolors Reservoir to see St. Hripsime church (from the 19th century A.D.), a partially-submerged church, covered with water up to the dome. People have approached St. Hripsime church by boat over the last 10 years. After desperate efforts to spot St. Hripsime church from the azure waters, we discovered that, since spring, it has fully submerged in the wake of heavy rains. Completely underwater at present, the church has become invisible. Sightseers will have to wait until the water level drops.
My heart rejoiced from the many conversations with villagers throughout the day, but my joy went out after seeing the deserted houses looming in the distance. Infatuated with Syunik’s breathtaking landscapes, peppered with the locals’ effusive welcome and exhilarating hospitality, we vowed to visit these villages again to embrace our ancestral cultural heritage.
Gayane Barseghyan
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