Bridge of Khatravank

The bridge of Khatravank used to extend over the river Trtu (Tartar), north of Khatravank Monastery, 6 kilometres west of Getavan Village, Martakert District, Republic of Artsakh (RMK).

According to an inscription carved on a cross-stone erected on the occasion of the construction of the bridge, it was completed in 1301.

It remains unrevealed how many centuries the bridge of Khatravank was preserved standing, but it must have been ruined prior to the 19th century. The first researcher to mention the monument actually saw not the bridge—in 1838—but the cross-stone attesting to its existence: “It is the inscription of the cross in the gorge down the monastery.” __11. A Study of the Domed Cathedral of Echmiatzin and Five Districts of Ararat by Bishop Hovhan Shahkhatuniants of Shahriar from the Monastic Community of Holy Echmiatzin, vol. 2, Echmiatzin, 1842, p. 363 (the original in Armenian). This inscription (see it in the Armenian text) was also published by S. Jalaliants, who offers exactly the same decipherment with a word-for-word repetition of the location of the aforementioned cross-stone. __22. Jalaliants, S. Travel to Great Armenia, part 1, Tpghis, 1842, p. 206 (the original in Armenian).

Transl.: By the Lord’s will, I, Aspa, the daughter of Great Prince Tarsayij and Minakhatun and the spouse of powerful prince Grigor, the son of valorous prince Hasan, Lord of Aghvank [Caucasian Albania], erected this cross [and] built this bridge in memory of the souls of our present-day and future family members.

The Armenian original published in: A Study of the Domed Cathedral of Echmiatzin and Five Districts of Ararat by Bishop Hovhan Shahkhatuniants of Shahriar from the Monastic Community of Holy Echmiatzin, vol. 2, Echmiatzin, 1842, p. 363; Jalaliants, S. Travel to Great Armenia, part 1, Tpghis, 1842, p. 206; Barkhutariants, M. Artsakh. Baku, 1895, p. 196; Corpus Inscriptionum Armenicarum, part 5, Yerevan, 1982, p. 128 (the originals in Armenian).

Judging from what is reported by the authors of the subsequent republications of this inscription, they did not see the bridge of Khatravank; nor even the cross-stone with the inscription commemorating its construction. __33. Barkhutariants, M. Artsakh. Baku, 1895, p. 196; Corpus Inscriptionum Armenicarum, part 5, Yerevan, 1982, p. 128; Shahinian, A. The Medieval Memorial Monuments of Armenia. Yerevan, 1984, p. 53 (the original in Armenian).