Bridge of Jasat (David)

The bridge (1607) used to stretch near Aghbashlar Village in present-day Touz District (Zakam District of Northern Artsakh—a region that suffered deportation of its Armenian population in 1988 and has been annexed to Azerbaijan since then). The exact time of its destruction remains unrevealed; supposedly, this must have happened earlier than 1890, when Sargis Kamalian found only its right-bank pier and construction inscription engraved below a cross relief on a nearby rock: “…I noticed a natural block of stone whose southern face bore a big cruciform [relief], with the following words carved near it: ‘May the Holy Cross protect gracious David, who built the bridge of Jasat in memory of his soul in the year 1056 (1607)’ [see the original in the Armenian text]. Having read this piece of writing, I looked back and saw the remains of the pier of an old bridge on the right bank [of the river].” __11. Yeghishe Charents Art and Literature Museum: Sargis Kamalian Fund, copy-book No. 1, VI-11, p. 34 (the original in Armenian).