St. Stepanos Church was an Armenian church located in the northeastern district of the
Kələki
Kələki (also, Kalaki, Kalakik and Kyalaki) is a village and municipality in the Ordubad District of Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. It is located on the Ordubad-Unus highway, 45 km in the north-east from the district center. People of the village ...
village (
Ordubad district
Ordubad District () is one of the 7 districts of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan. The district borders the district of Julfa, as well as the Syunik Province of Armenia, and the East Azerbaijan Province of Iran. Its capital and la ...
) of the
Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic
The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (, ) is a landlocked country, landlocked Enclave and exclave, exclave of the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. The region covers Official portal of Nakhchivan Autonomous RepublicNakhchivan Autonomous Republi ...
of
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 church was still standing in the early 2000s.
History
According to an Armenian inscription on a
cross-stone (''khachkar)'' above the
lintel
A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case ...
of the portal, the church was either founded or renovated in 1441 by Agha Shain.
[Ayvazyan, Argam. ''Nakhijevani ISSH haykakan hushardzannery. Hamahavak tsutsak.'' Yerevan: Hayastan, 1986, p. 32.][Ayvazyan, Argam. ''The Historical Monuments of Nakhichevan.'' Transl. Krikor H. Maksoudian. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990, pp. 49–50.] It was also renovated in the 17th and 19th centuries. The church is also mentioned in the 17th century Armenian inscription of
St. Tovma Monastery of Agulis.
Architectural characteristics
St. Stepanos had a single-chamber
nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
, eastern
apse
In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...
with two vestries on either side, an entrance in the western facade, and a porch in the west.
Historian Argam Ayvazyan recorded traces of wall painting on the plastered walls of the interior, as well as Armenian inscriptions on the western facade.
Destruction
The church was a well-preserved and still standing monument in the late
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 ...
period (1980s) and in the early 2000s.
However, the church was erased between 2000 and August 13, 2009, as documented by satellite forensic investigation of the
Caucasus Heritage Watch.
See also
*
Saint Thomas Monastery of Agulis
Saint Thomas Monastery of Agulis () was an Armenian Apostolic monastery, located in the Yuxarı Əylis village of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan. It was historically built in the Goghtn district of the historical Armenian prov ...
*
Kələki
Kələki (also, Kalaki, Kalakik and Kyalaki) is a village and municipality in the Ordubad District of Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. It is located on the Ordubad-Unus highway, 45 km in the north-east from the district center. People of the village ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:St. Stepanos Church (Kələki)
Destroyed Armenian Apostolic churches in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic