Albanian temple in Arpa village

It is located in Sharur-Daralayaz district of Iravan governorate, later in Arpa village in Keshishkand (Yeghegnadzor) district.

The name of Arpa village was changed to Areni by the decree of 10.9.1946.

Architecture

The remains of the ancient Albanian monument-temple are still standing today. Armenians appropriated the church belonging to the Albanian Turks and presented it as an “Armenian monument”.

It is located 12 km southeast of the district center, next to the Arpa river. The remains of the ancient Albanian monument-temple built in 1321 are still standing here.  Arpanyal is also mentioned in the sources as Arbanyal. It is marked on the 5 verst map of the Caucasus. In addition to Armenians, 34 Azerbaijanis lived in the village in 1897, and 15 Azerbaijanis in 1926. Azerbaijanis were expelled in the 1930s. Now Armenians live there.

The toponym Arpa was formed on the basis of a Turkish personal name. Apparently, it was later fixed as a tribal name. H.Mirzayev shows that the toponym is derived from the name of a Turkic tribe. Monuments related to the history of Caucasian Albania are important. These monuments serve as historical sources about the region and its inhabitants.