Memories From the Museums of Artsakh

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Before the 2020 Artsakh War, the cultural and historical landmarks of Artsakh were central to the region’s identity and tourism. Sites like the Tigranakert Museum, the Nikol Duman House-Museum, the manuscript library of Gandzasar Monastery, including various museums in Shushi, were popular tourist destinations. As Lernik Hovhannisyan, Artsakh’s last Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports recalls, these places once stood as proud testaments to Artsakh’s deep cultural roots. 

After the war, much of Artsakh’s landscape, both physically and culturally, was devastated. The once-thriving tourism sector withered, particularly after the violent incidents in Karaglukh and Parukh villages in March 2022. This was followed by the nine-month blockade later that year. Museums, which were once centers of learning and community, were cut off from visitors. 

Talking about these museums, Hovhannisyan pauses, often falling silent. Each museum he mentions is a reminder of a past that seems increasingly distant. Tigranakert, with its archaeological treasures, is no longer accessible. The ancient manuscripts housed in Gandzasar’s library are beyond reach, vulnerable to adversarial forces bent on their destruction.

For the people of Artsakh, the loss of these cultural institutions strikes at the heart of their identity. Kristina Ghahramanyan, a journalist from Artsakh Public Television, reflects on this pain. “If it were possible,” she says, “I would wish for most, if not all, of the museums to be relocated to Armenia.” She recalls visiting the Martuni Museum as a child, where a neatly folded military uniform belonging to Monte Melkonian was displayed. “In Martuni, we deeply respected, loved, and accepted him,” she says, adding that if she had the chance she “probably would have taken the uniform” with her. The thought of leaving behind such cherished symbols of their history is a wound shared by many in Artsakh.

As the region faced imminent ethnic cleansing after the Azerbaijani attack of September 19, 2023, the people of Martuni took drastic measures to preserve a part of their legacy. Men from the town dug a large hole to bury the statue of Melkonian that once stood in Martuni’s square, hoping to protect it from the destruction sweeping across Artsakh. “At least this gives some comfort,” Ghahramanyan reflects. “Knowing it won’t be vandalized like the other statues.”

Ghahramanyan’s fear of statues being vandalized by Azerbaijanis is not only well-founded, it’s well-documented. In Artsakh, empty houses, schools, theaters, over 30 museums and exhibition halls, historical and cultural monuments were left behind. Caucasus Heritage Watch, a research program in heritage forensics led by archaeologists at Cornell and Purdue Universities, is one of the organizations monitoring the state of cultural heritage sites in Artsakh. In a June 2024 report, they compared satellite images from before and after the 2020 war and wrote: “We are deeply concerned that the total number of destroyed heritage sites rose by 75% between our Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 missions, along with a 29% increase in sites classified as threatened.”

The destruction of Artsakh’s cultural heritage began after the 2020 war, when the regions of Hadrut and Shushi, along with ten state museums and ten private collections, fell under Azerbaijani control. Initial estimates suggest that over 8,000 museum artifacts have been lost in Shushi alone.

In 2021, a BBC  reporter documented how Azerbaijanis had completely destroyed the Armenian St. Mary’s Church in Jrakan following the war. The St. Sargis Church in the village of Mokhrenis met the same fate. In 2022, the distinct Armenian features of Shushi’s Kanach Zham church were destroyed under the pretext of renovation. Later, the 177-year-old church was completely razed by Azerbaijan.

Lernik Hovhannisyan says that the destruction extends beyond churches to include memorial complexes dedicated to soldiers who died in World War II and the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

“We appealed to the Russian peacekeeping forces about the destruction of World War II memorials, but unfortunately, there was no response,” says Hovhannisyan. He points out the contrast with how Russia reacts when a Soviet soldier memorial is defaced in Eastern European countries, where Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, often issues strong condemnations. “It feels like Russia is ready to declare war over such incidents. Yet when over 20 memorials to Armenian soldiers who died in World War II were being destroyed right under the noses of its peacekeepers, there was complete silence,” Hovhannisyan remarks.

The same silence continued during the destruction of busts of notable Armenians. The list is long. After the capture of Shushi, the bust of Nelson Stepanyan, a twice-honored hero of the USSR, was destroyed, along with that of Hovhannes (Ivan) Tevosyan, who served as the USSR’s Minister of Heavy Industry during World War II. Following the September 19, 2023 Azerbaijani attack that led to the ethnic cleansing of the entire Armenian population of Artsakh, the destruction extended to the busts of Admiral Isakov, Lieutenant General Anatoly Zinevich, Alexander Myasnikyan, and Stepan Shahumyan.

The scale of cultural loss was already apparent a year after the end of the war. In October 2021, during a discussion at Armenia’s National Assembly, Lusine Gharakhanyan, Artsakh’s Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports, revealed that 2,000 monuments, 122 churches, 13 monasteries, 52 fortresses, 536 khachkars (cross-stones), 20,885 museum artifacts, and 617,000 books were under occupation. 

Alyona Hayrapetyan, a journalist who frequently visited museums before the 2020 war, reflects on the deep cultural loss. She believes that everyone should have experienced landmarks like the Nikol Duman House-Museum, the Shushi Museum of Fine Arts, and the Tigranakert Archaeological Museum.

“Nearly everyone had visited these museums at least once, if not regularly,” she recalls. “I personally often went to the Stepanakert Gallery of Art, which primarily featured works by local artists.”

For Hayrapetyan, the tragedy is not just about the lost artifacts within the museums but also the numerous monuments––large and small––left behind in the now-depopulated region. Among the most painful losses is the oldest known khachkar, discovered in Vaghuhas, dating back to 866 CE. 

“It wasn’t housed in a museum,” she notes, “but it was an incredibly valuable find. As far as I know, they weren’t able to bring it with them.”

Lernik Hovhannisyan tries to recall each artifact from Artsakh’s museums one by one, starting with the Hadrut Geological Museum, which, according to him, had many fascinating pieces.

“One particularly interesting and valuable piece was a wedding dress that was part of the traditional Artsakh attire from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was unique to the Hadrut Geological Museum; we don’t have a similar piece anywhere else,” he says. Other valuable items remained in the house-museum of Marshal Armenak Khanperyants of Soviet aviation, the Berdashen Museum, and the Nikol Duman House-Museum. “Artsakh’s museums also housed collections of Edgar Chahine and Carzou’s paintings. And that’s not to mention the Stepanakert Geological Museum, which had fascinating rock collections from 53 countries,” he adds.

Hovhannisyan is pessimistic about the fate of items from the Geological Museum of Hadrut, the house-museums of Armenak Khanperyants and Mikayel Parsegov. He fears these collections may have been destroyed.

After September 2023, Artsakh’s museums effectively ceased operations, following a presidential decree by the last president of Artsakh Samvel Shahramanyan dissolving all state institutions.

Some private collections were saved, at least partially, through individual efforts, with people transporting artifacts using their personal vehicles.

There is no official data on rescued exhibits from state museums either. In response to our inquiry, Armenia’s Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports responded with one sentence: “All possible measures are being taken to save the historical and cultural heritage of Artsakh.”

Raising awareness about saved artifacts could lead to accusations from Azerbaijan of “stealing Azerbaijan’s cultural heritage,” as happened following the evacuation of archaeological items from Tigranakert during military operations.

Historian and archaeologist, Professor Hamlet Petrosyan led the excavation team that discovered the city of Tigranakert––founded by Tigran the Great in Artsakh––in 2005. During the 2020 Artsakh War, Tigranakert became a target for enemy artillery, and the site was completely destroyed.

In response to the Azerbaijani accusations, Petrosyan wrote on his Facebook page: 

“The lack of political recognition for Artsakh does not strip its indigenous people of their right to preserve and promote their culture, including their cultural heritage. Thus, the archaeological research at Tigranakert was conducted on a fully legal foundation.”

According to Lernik Hovhannisyan, monitoring museum exhibits in Artsakh is extremely difficult.

“Regarding the restoration of state museum exhibits, we can recreate information based on existing materials and photographs. However, there is a great deal of work to be done for private collections, school museum exhibits, and rural museums,” says Hovhannisyan.

While churches, historical buildings, and museums remain under Azerbaijan’s control, some of the most crucial cultural assets—such as Artsakh’s dialect, traditions, customs, and cuisine—have been carried by each displaced Artsakh resident to Armenia. Preserving these cultural treasures now demands serious state intervention.

“If at least some of the displaced people from Artsakh do not live together in one place in Armenia, then within a generation—and especially considering that some Artsakh Armenians are already leaving Armenia—it will be difficult to predict how well Artsakh’s traditions and customs will be preserved, or how many people will continue speaking the Artsakh dialect.”

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