Sevakn Bridge

The bridge lies across the river Kondalan, on the border-line between Dizak and Varanda Districts of Artsakh Province, Metz Hayk, in the neighbourhood of Gharabulagh—the only village in Jebrail District that still remained Russian-populated as of the early 20th century. Despite the deep antiquity of this multi-span bridge, the earliest written record containing reference to it goes back to only 1902: “Within some two to three versts of the Russian [village of] Gharabulagh flows the river Kyondalan. At a distance of two sazhens of the river are preserved the remnants of a stone bridge deeply buried in grass. The foundation of this bridge is shrouded in the obscurity of historical times, and the local people do not remember any legends relating to the period it traces back to: some say it was erected by Alexandre of Macedonia parallel with the construction of the old bridge of Khudaperin over the river Arax; others attribute it to a certain King Bahman. The position of the bridge in relation to the river suggests that [initially] it was constructed over a river which later changed its channel; as a result, the bridge appeared some distance away from it. Thanks to the absence of inhabited localities in the neighbourhood of the bridge, it has escaped final destruction by man. …It is, however, most probable that both this bridge and that of Khudaperin were built by Shah Abbas the Great…” __11. Segal, I. Yelisavetpol Province: Memoirs and Impressions. In: Kavkazski Vestnik, Tiflis, 1902, No. 5, p. 31 (the original in Russian). This record comes to suggest that Sevakn Bridge was erected between the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. and was later repaired in the 17th century.