Aghavnavang albanian temple

Karvansara district, in Salah village, on the coast of Tarsachay

Karvansara district since 09.09.1930 – Ijevan, Salah village since 03.04.1991 Aghavnavank

Architecture

The Albanian temple is in a partially usable semi-demolition condition. It was not repaired and restored by Armenians, but it was appropriated and presented as an "Armenian monument".

There are various ancient historical monuments of Turkish-Albanian origin belonging to Azerbaijanis of the 11th-12th centuries in the village. Aghavnavang Albanian-Turkish temple was built in XII-XIII centuries. It is located in a high wooded area on the edge of the Dilijan National Park and was built in the form of a quadrangular dome. Because the walls of the temple were wide and large rocks and river stones were used in its construction, it was able to survive until today. The roof and dome part of the temple is overgrown with grass and bushes. The village of Salah belonged to the Gazakh district of the Ganja (Yelizavetpol) governorate, which was established on the basis of the tsar's decree dated December 9, 1867 on the change of administration of Caucasus and Transcaucasia. From 1918 to 1920, it existed within the territory of the ADR. After the fall of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, a military revolutionary committee was established in the Gazakh region. After the establishment of Soviet power in Armenia on 29.11.1920, 44.5% of the territory of Gazakh province, it including, according to the administrative division of 1874, Azasu, Garadash, Gilinjkand, Uzuntala, Baranin, Galachi, Kotikand, Goshgotan Kulpi, Yani Dilijan, Kohna Dilijan, Karvansara, Garagoyunlu, Polad-Ayrim, Khashtar, Bashkand, Kulali, Mikhaylovsk, Tatlikand, Tovuzgala villages remained part of Armenia. Karvansara (Ijevan), Chambarak (Krasnoselsk), Shamshaddil, Dilijan districts were created on the lands of Gazakh, Aghstafa, Tovuz, Gadabay, Shamkir districts given to Armenia. Until the deportation in 1987-1991, only Azerbaijanis lived in the village.

The toponym was formed on the basis of the ethnonym "salahli" belonging to the Gazakh Turkic tribe. 184 Azerbaijanis lived in the village in 1897, 56 in 1904, 64 in 1914, 72 in 1916. In 1918-1919, Azerbaijanis were subjected to genocide by Armenians and some of them were deported. After the establishment of Soviet power in the territory of present-day Armenia, the surviving part of Azerbaijanis returned to the village again. 80 Azerbaijanis lived in the village in 1922, 90 in 1926, and 112 in 1931.