Tsakuri

Tsakuri
Tsakuri
	Tsakuri
	Coordinates: 39°34′11″N 46°59′01″E / 39.56972°N 46.98361°E
Country	De jure Azerbaijan; De facto Artsakh
Rayon; Province	Khojavend; Hadrut Province
Time zone	UTC+4 (AZT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+5 (AZT)

39°34′11″N 46°59′01″E / 39.56972°N 46.98361°E / 39.56972; 46.98361

Tsakuri (Armenian: Ծակուռի, also Tsakeyto, Tsakouri, and Tsakurri) is a small Armenian village in Hadrut region of the Artsakh Republic. It is located in the southeastern part of the republic, 13 km from Hadrut regional center and a 57 km drive over the North-South Highway from the capital Stepanakert. Hikers reach Tsakuri in the Togh section of the marked Janapartrail in Artsakh.

The community is lowland with a total area of 307.4 hectares, of which 241.68 hectares are of agricultural importance and 32.9 hectares are forest land. It has a specially mild micro-climate thanks to its apple, pear, mulberry and walnut trees. Deposits of Icelandic spar are to be found in the village area.

Population

The population of the Tsakuri community is about 100 people in approx. 28 households. The population is mainly engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, and farming. There is a village administration, a house of culture, a first aid station. The water supply is provided by the community in a gravity system fed from two springs Akn and Nerses. The community is provided with electricity, television and radio signals, mobile and wireless telephony and Internet service are available. The village has been featured multiple times on the local TV channel.

Historical and cultural monuments

The most important historical and religious monument of the community is the former "Tsaghkavank" monastery complex of which only the „Holy Mother of God“ church has been preserved. It was founded in 1198 and has a spectacular portal of 1682, being an outstanding example of Medieval Armenian architecture and culture in Artsakh and is covered in the Encyclopedia on Artsakh architecture by Sh.M. Mkrtchyan. Other historical monuments of Tsakuri include the cemetery (XVII-XIX centuries), the spring (XIX c.), a khachkar (cross-stone, XVII c.) and Ptkatagh monastery (on the outskirts of Tsakuri, dated 1670). A total of five historical monuments is registered in Tsakuri.

А group of international benefactors initiated the reconstruction of the „Holy Mother of God“ church in Tsakuri and started preparation works and fundraising in the 2010s. In July 2013, the Primate of the Diocese of Artsakh of the Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan blessed this project for the revival of the historical and religious monument „Surb Astvatsatsin“ (Holy Mother of God). It was recognised by the Ministry of labor, social affairs and resettlement of the Republic of Artsakh as a charitable project, and construction works started in May 2019. The Ministry of culture, tourism and youth affairs has monitored the construction works for phase one of the project (external works) tightly in cooperation with the technical supervision authority of RA. Phase two of the project for the interior works is partly funded by an international crowdfunding campaign.

References

Artsakh North-South Highway
Artsakh Janapartrail
De Facto and De Jure Population by Administrative Territorial Distribution and Sex of NKR region, communities, Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, National Statistical Service of NKR, 2005 census. Table 1.1, 2005, p. 51. Available:[1]
Information on the socio-economic characteristics of the administrative-territorial units of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. Yellow Pages / Djardaraget Publishing House Yerevan, 2015, ISBN 978-9939-72-184-2, p. 119. Available: [2]
Ш.М. Мкртчян [3] Историко-архитектурные памятники Нагорного Карабаха, Ереван, изд. Парберакан, 1989 г., c. 96, ISBN 5540004027, ISBN 9785540004022 (Historical and architectural monuments of Mountainous Karabakh, by Sh.M.Mkrtchyan, Yerevan, Parberakan, 1989, p. 96, in Russian)
Reconstruction of Tsakuri church. Follow: https://tsakuri.travel.blog [4]Fundraiser video
Archbishop of the Diocese of Artsakh Pargev Martirosian [5]
Ministry of labor, social affairs and resettlement of the Republic of Artsakh [6]
Ministry of culture, tourism and youth affairs [7]
Recent media coverage on Artsakh TV [8], [9], [10]
Recent coverage by videoblogger A. Voskanyan [11]