The Bridge of Jerveshtik is a single-span bridge situated over the stream Jerveshtik (Yeghishe Arakyal, i.e. Elisha the Apostle), in a deep gorge 400 metres north-west of the

Yeghishe Arakyal Monastery Yeghishe Arakyal Monastery ( hy, Եղիշե առաքյալի վանք, Yeghishe Arakyali Vank) or Monastery of Yeghishe the Apostle ( az, Müqəddəs Yelisey monastırı) is an Armenian Apostolic Church in Nagorno-Karabakh, located close to the vi ...

, within 5 kilometres of

Mataghis Madagiz ( hy, Մատաղիս, Mataghis) or Sugovushan (, ), is a village in the Tartar District of Azerbaijan, in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The village had an ethnic Armenian-majority population prior to the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Village,

Martakert Region Martakert Province ( hy, Մարտակերտ) is a province of the Republic of Artsakh, ''de jure'' part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The population is mainly Armenian. The province has 43 communities of which one is considered urban and 42 a ...

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Artsakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh () or the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (),, is a list of states with limited recognition, breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan ...

(NKR) in the same direction.

History

There exist no records as to the time of its construction, but its building peculiarities allow us to trace it back to the 12th to 13th centuries. At present only the piers of the bridge of Jerveshtik are preserved. It remains unknown when it was destroyed, but this must have happened much earlier than the year 1884, as a traveler who saw it in the same year later wrote: ''"The bridge represents but three shaky beams covered with pieces of wood. About 200 feet beneath it in the opposite direction, amidst some prominent rocks run the stream Yeghishe Arakyal (Elisha the Apostle) in tremendous roar..."''Haykuny. Travelling Notes. In: Meghu Hayastani, 1885, No 66, p. 3 (the original in Armenian) It is already a long time since the "shaky beams" connecting the piers were leveled with the ground. The cornerstones of the vault-bearing arch of the bridge were finely-dressed; its other parts, and particularly, its elevated main pier were built of undressed stone and mortar. Span length: 6.0 metres; passage width: 3.30 metres; height above water level according to the reconstruction of the bridge: 11.25 metres.

References

{{coord missing, Armenia Bridges in Armenia Former bridges