Bridge of Shamkor

The bridge extended across the river Shamkor flowing in the vicinity of the town site of Shamkor (the available archive documents repeatedly mention the town of Shamkor from the 7th century onwards) in Shamkhor District, Northern Artsakh, a region that suffered deportation of its Armenian population in 1988 and has been annexed to Azerbaijan since then. Presumably, it was erected between the 6th and 7th centuries, and was multi-span in composition, apparently so that it would resist the abundant current of the river. By the mid-19th century, only the remnants of the bridge were left in its site: “…over the river lies a multi-span bridge built of white stone [which is] now in ruins…” __11. Jalaliants, S. Travel to Great Armenia, part 1, Tpghis, 1842, p. 171 (the original in Armenian).