Lev ( Azerbaijani and ; ) is a village in the

Kalbajar District Kalbajar District () is one of the 66 Administrative divisions of Azerbaijan, districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the west of the country and belongs to the East Zangezur Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Lachin Distric ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

. The medieval Armenian Handaberd fortress and monastery are located near the village.

History

According to medieval Armenian sources, Lev has been an Armenian settlement since the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. The historical settlement of Lev was located on the southern slope of the left bank of the Lev river. Lev was mentioned in 1763, in the list of the monastic residences of Dadivank. It served as a monastic residence until 1913. Makar Barkhudaryan, an Apostolic bishop and

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

from

Shusha Shusha (, ) or Shushi () is a city in Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Situated at an altitude of 1,400–1,800 metres (4,600–5,900 ft) in the Karabakh mountains, the city was a mountain resort in the Soviet Union, Soviet ...

, mentions the monastery in Lev during his 19th century travels. The Armenian monastery of the village survived until 1913, when it was destroyed by

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

authorities. There is a 9th-century Armenian fortress called Handaberd (Lev castle) located near the village. It was built by Atrnerseh I, ruler of the Armenian

Principality of Khachen The Principality of Khachen ( Modern Armenian: ) was a medieval Armenian principality on the territory of historical Artsakh (present-day Karabakh).''Abū-Dulaf Misʻar Ibn Muhalhil's Travels in Iran (circa A.D. 950)'', ed. and trans. Vladi ...

, who resided there. It served as Atrnerseh's residence as well as a prison for prisoners sentenced to death. According to the inscription on one of the

khachkars A ''khachkar'' (also spelled as ''khatchkar'') or Armenian cross-stone (, , խաչ ''xačʿ'' "cross" + քար ''kʿar'' "stone") is a carved, memorial stele bearing a cross, and often with additional motifs such as rosettes, interlaces, and ...

kept at Dadivank, from 1142 to 1182 Handaberd belonged to Hasan I Vakhtangyan, prince of Upper Khachen. Some time after the initial construction under Atrnerseh, the fortress was significantly expanded. Around 1250, the fortress is mentioned in the history written by the Armenian historian

Kirakos Gandzaketsi Kirakos Gandzaketsi (; c. 1200/1202–1271) was an Armenian historian of the 13th century S. Peter Cowe. Kirakos Ganjakec'i or Arewelc'i // Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History / Edited by David Thomas & Alex Mallet. — BRILL, 2 ...

References

External links

*
T.X. Hakobyan: Հայաստանի եւ հարակից շրջանների տեղանունների բառարան, Երեւանի Համալսարանի Հրատարակչություն, Երեւան, 1988
Populated places in Kalbajar District Former Armenian inhabited settlements {{Kalbajar-geo-stub