Vankasar

The church though damaged but still standing was on top of Vankasar mountain till the eighties.Owing to its old age(6-7 cent.) and planning peculiarities(cross-planned with a dome and three altar apses) it was in the focus of the historians and architects attention.The first to mention this church was Archbishop Sarkis Jalaliants:”The damaged church on the top the cliff is believed to have been the See of this province.”Later Senior Priest Yeghishe Gueghamiants(Haykuhi) noted:”the people call the said chapel”Levonaberd.”

Visitingthe church in the eighties of the past century preceptor Khachik Dadian pmapped the church and copied the “4 arshin”inscription of a khachkar,wich read: ԵՍ ՇԱՀԱՆՇԱՀ ՈՐԴԻ ԱՇՈՏԱՑ ԿԱՆԳՆԵՑԻ ԶԽԱՉՍ ՀՈԳՒՈՑ ԻՄՈՅ,ՈՎԿԱՐԴԷՔ ՅԱՂԱՒԹՍ ՅԻՇԵՑԷՔ,ԹՎԻՆ ՉԺԲ (1263): “I SHAHANSHAH,THE SON OF ASHOT ERECTED THIS CROSS FOR MY SOUL.WHOEVER MAY READ,REMEMBER MY PRAYERS,DATE (1263).

In his research, published in 1895 Bishop Makar Barkhutariants included some of the legends associated with the construction of Vankasar.One of them refers to the construction of this church to the dethroned prince Vache II (5 cent.): “Vache II of Albania built a cross planned hermitage,the dome of which has presently fully declined…”

A few decades later Z.Yampolsky published an article fully dedicated to Vankasar .This was the most thorough research,rich in material,containing the plan , measurements and the first photographs of the church. Mentioning the Armenian inscription and numerous other Armenian symbols,and emphasizing the identity of the compositional pecularities of the church with similar early medieval churches of Armenia, Yampolsky,nevertheless, paid tribute to the contemprorary tendency of the Azerbaijanian scientists and proclaimed that this was an Albanian church. No essential contribution had been made by the research of A.Yackobson on arcchitectural links between Armenia and main (Caucasian) Albania, based mainly on the material provided by the church of Vankasar.

Architect V.Grigorian who provided sufficient arguments against Z.Yampolski and his attemts to alienate Vankasar from the Armenian culture and represent it as an Albanian monument disputed the issue of the Albanian origin of the church .Based on rich factual material V.Grigorian disproved the alleged inconsistencies in the symbolic signs found on Vankasar and other early Armenian monuments and the hypotheses that the former Albanian inscription was erased in the 8 th cent and replaced by an Armenian one.

In the course of research conducted with architect A.Ghazarian on the spot in 1986, we discovered two defective inscriptions situated in the northern part of the eastern entrance of the church,which was already changing its form due to the “reconsruction”.The first inscription consisted of 3 badly weathered lines carved beneath a simple cross. Only the last line was legible:

ՅԱՂՈՒԹՍ ԻՇԵՍԶԻՔ ՅՍ ՔՍ Ի ՏՐ:

“REMEMBER MY PRAYERS IN JC GOD.”

The second inscription was situated just a row beneath the former, on a finely processed wall and contained two lines :

…ՈՒ ՍՐԲՈՅ ԵԿԵՂԵՑԻՍ ՅԱՂԱՒԹՍ ԻՇԷԶԻՔ: “

… AND THE HOLY CHURCH. REMEMBER MY PRAYERS.”

Besides these two pieces of epigraphic, which by their paleographic pecularities may prove to be contemporaneous to the church, there were other symbols distinctly visible on the remaining walls.These symbols may be subdivided to two main types:Armenian letters and pictograms.

The inscribed khachkar of 1263 described and copied by Kh. preceptor Dadian was not in situ during the restoration works of 1986,but we noticed another uninscribed cross in the debris within the church yard, which was later delivered to Akna ( Aghdam) . Moreover, separate parts of the central cross of the khachkar were scratched in advance so that it was impossible to understand that it was a khachkar. The khachkar is installed today in the courtyard of the Askeran church. Vankasar Church was also damaged during the First Artsakh War. Above the door of the western facade, a shell pierced a huge hole, endangering the stability of the wall. In autumn , 2011, the Department of Tourism under the NKR government carried out cleaning, strengthening and landscaping work here. Partial fortification work was completed in January 2012, a cross was installed on the dome of the church. The destroyed part of the western facade has been restored. The church came under the control of Azerbaijan on November 20, 2020. The current state of the monastery is unknown.