Arik Temple in Ashtarak

In the city of Ashtarak, Karbibasar district

Ashtarak city – Ashtarak since 09.09.1930

Architecture

After the deportation of Azerbaijanis, the Arik Temple was not repaired and restored by the Armenian state, and part of the temple, the wall, and the adjacent buildings collapsed.

On the edge of the Abaranchay rock on the eastern outskirts of the city of Ashtarak, the Arik temple, as if witnessing the events of past centuries, attracts attention with its mysterious appearance.
The Arik temple, dating back to the period of the Albanian Arshaks, is one of the most important monuments of Albanian architectural thought. Its length is 18–20, width is about 6, and height is about 7–8 m. It is built of red tuff stone. There is one large and two small windows on the left side. It is located in the city of Ashtarak. Mathematical and descriptive sources do not give us any clear information about its foundation, but due to its architectural and inventive features, researchers attribute it to the 4th–5th centuries.
It underwent a major reconstruction in the 5th century, when the wooden lining was replaced with a stone wall.
It was part of the Kerbibasar district, which was under the rule of the Arshaks in the 4th century, the Arabs in the 8th–10th centuries, the Shiraks in the 9th–11th centuries, the Pahlavis, the Seljuk Turks in the 11th–16th centuries, and the Iravan Khanate in the 16th–19th centuries. After the Russian occupation in 1828, it passed under the rule of the Iravan district of the Iravan province, then the Echmiadzin district. After the establishment of Soviet power in the territory now called Armenia, an administrative-territorial division was created in 1929. Ashtarak became the name of the district established on September 9, 1930. In 1948–1953, the district was divided into Talysh, Tekiye, Uchan, Chadkyran, Inekli, Tulnebi, etc. The population of the villages was forcibly relocated to Azerbaijan.

The toponym "Ashtarek" is derived from the Turkish word "ashu" meaning "high mountain pass" and the Turkish word "tarak" meaning "wrinkled mountain height", "broken stone fragments" (chinqil), "high, multi-toothed (comb-shaped) mountain". This word is used in the toponyms of the High Altai in the form of tarakay in the meaning of "bare rock on the top of the mountain". It is a toponym with a complex structure formed on the basis of the relief. The toponym shows that the territory has been inhabited by Azerbaijanis since historical times.