Seljuk-era temple in the village of Carcaris

In the village of Jarjarchi, Alagöz district, Karbibasar district

Alagoz district – Aragats. The village of Carcarchi (Carcaris) was renamed Derek on April 19, 1957.

Architecture

Due to the abundance of Seljuk elements on the temple and in its architectural structure, it was left in a state of ruin by the Armenians. The flying wall stones were transported by the Armenian population of the village and used in the construction of houses and stables. At present, only a 5-meter-wide and 3.5-meter-high part of the temple's side wall remains.

The temple is located in the Aleksandropol district of the Yerevan province, then in the village of Jarjarchi, 12 km from the center of the Alagöz district of the Kerbibasar district. The temple was built by the Christian Seljuks in the 10th-11th centuries. The arch and oval-shaped elements present in the architectural structure of the temple indicate that the monument is an example of Turkish architecture. In a later period, after their conversion to Islam, it is observed that some architectural elements on the temple were transferred to mosques. The temple was built of river and rock stones with white plaster mortar, and then the surface was decorated with gray and brown square granite stones. Its length was about 11-12, width 7-8, and height was about 6 meters. The wall thickness was about 0.6-0.8 m. It preserves its existence in the area in a ruined state as a Turkish architectural monument.
The village of Jarjarchi was part of the Abaran district until 1972. In the “Detailed Diary of the Iravan Province” compiled in 1590, it was mentioned as the village of Jarjayis.
It was subordinated to the Alagöz (Aragats) district, which was created on March 15, 1972.

The temple is similar to other temples and monuments built during the Seljuk period in terms of its architectural features. Several elements of the same architectural style can be seen in mosques after the Christian Seljuks converted to Islam. The toponym was formed by adding the topo-formation “-is” to the word “carcar”, which means an iron-toothed agricultural tool used in threshing, instead of “vel” in the Nakhchivan group of dialects and dialects of the Azerbaijani language. This tool for beating was mainly characteristic of plain areas and was used in the work process before the vel. The toponym was formed based on the word "car-caris", which is used in the sense of profession or art.