Qizilvang Albanian temple

In the village of Gizilvang, Basarkechar district, Goycha district

The village of Gizilvang in the Basarkechar region was renamed Chichekli on July 24, 1940, and Makenis in 1978.

Architecture

The remains of an ancient Albanian monument - a temple - still stand today. Armenians have appropriated the temple belonging to the Albanian Turks and present it as an "Armenian monument."

There is a temple in the village of Gizilveng dating back to the 4th–5th centuries. The village was named Gizilveng because it was built of red tuff stones belonging to the Albanians. The temple, located on a high ground, was visible from the surrounding villages. The village is located 15 km southeast of the district center. It is noted in the “Comprehensive Book of the Yerevan Province” and on the 5-verst map of the Caucasus.
It is the village where the famous folk singer Ashig Ali was born. Ashig Ali introduced himself as “My home is Goycha, my village is Gizilveng”. This also indicates that the village is an ancient Turkic-Oghuz homeland. In 1873, 429 Azerbaijanis lived in the village, in 1886 - 469, in 1897 - 563, in 1908 - 733, in 1914 - 812, in 1916 - 807. In 1918, the Azerbaijanis were expelled by the Armenians, and Armenians who had been resettled from Iran and Turkey were resettled. After the establishment of Soviet power in present-day Armenia, the surviving Azerbaijanis were able to return to their villages. In 1922, 168 Azerbaijanis lived here alongside Armenians, in 1926, 241, and in 1931, 282. After the population was resettled to Azerbaijan in 1948–1953, Armenians were settled there.

The toponym is formed from the combination of the words "red" and "veng", which is synonymous with the word "church". The village was named Gizil-veng (Gizil-kilse) because there was a red temple in the village, which is typical for Albanians. It is a complex toponym in terms of structure.