The Discovery of Handaberd Monastery (in Armenian) 2 of 3

This short video offers viewers a glimpse into a forgotten chapter of medieval Armenian history: the discovery of a monastery on a mountain above the town of Knaravan, in the Karvajar (Kelbajar) region of Artsakh, a forested wilderness between the Republic of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. It is a wild, almost uninhabited mountainous area formally a part of Azerbaijan, but occupied by Armenian forces since the Karabakh war. The monastery is directly opposite the famous Handaberd fortress, perched dramatically on a neighboring mountaintop where it overlooks this Eden-like landscape.

Assembled from interviews filmed at the site over a period of a year during the making of a film about Knaravan, the video follows Dr. Hamlet Petrosyan, a native of Artsakh and one of Armenia's leading archaeologists, as he guides us through the newly recovered ruins of the monastery. Along the way he discovers a hidden inscription and illuminates some of the sensational khachkars discovered at the site. Dr. Petrosyan, who recently led the rediscovery of Tigranakert in Agdam, is a well-known expert on khachkars and the history of Artsakh. His insights on the significance of Handaberd monastery and the forgotten history of the region are invaluable to any serious student of Armenian culture.

PLEASE NOTE: This video is not a finished film. Rather, it is a rough compilation of unedited footage and interviews put together as an archival record. As such, English subtitles were not added. I hope to do so in the future.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• documentary
• armenia
• artsakh
• armenian
• archeology
• history
• karabagh
• karabakh
• armenians