Khudaveng, who survived the Armenian invasion

Azerbaijan has taken a serious approach to returning the Albanian heritage from oblivion, where it was sent by the Armenian church and propaganda. This heritage is being returned with considerable difficulties, as it is necessary to overcome the layers of lies and falsifications that have become entrenched over decades.

The recent trip of foreign diplomats to the liberated territories caused a serious upheaval in the Armenian scientific and ideological environment. However, the consequences in the global arena turned out to be not as long?lasting and tangible as expected. The topic of the allegedly destroyed pseudo?Armenian heritage in Karabakh has lost its relevance, as has the “Armenian question” as a whole.

We do not claim that over the two hundred years of their presence on Azerbaijani lands, the incoming Armenians did nothing but appropriate and falsify what was not theirs. They undoubtedly created something as well. But this is not the antiquity they tried to pass off as their own. It must be acknowledged that the process of falsification and appropriation of the ancient history of this region, especially during the occupation period, was quite successful. The fact that foreign experts and scholars were drawn into it lent the process an aura of legitimacy; the results of the falsifications ended up in international sources, thereby gaining the right to exist. Just like Erebuni, which never existed in history, but which made it possible to extend the age of Yerevan, which was already 500 years old, back by 2,300 years.

The statements and comments of the Armenian side show disappointment and even surprise at the lack of a violent reaction to the situation around the Ganjasar monastery after Baku officially laid out the truth about the history of this temple in front of 150 diplomats from 58 countries. We remind our neighbors that the noise they made around another pearl of the Albanian spiritual heritage, the Khudaveng monastery in Kalbajar district, was no less senseless. 

After the liberation of Kalbajar, Khudaveng remained under Armenian control for some time. Russian peacekeepers were stationed on the territory, guarding the peace of the invaders. Meanwhile, in Echmiadzin, they were looking for a way to secure the monastery and the surrounding lands for the Armenian church and to establish a corridor for pilgrims to reach it. But no solution was found. In April 2024, the peacekeepers withdrew from the Khudaveng complex due to the start of the process of withdrawing the Russian peacekeeping forces from Azerbaijan. It should be recalled that the entire Russian peacekeeping contingent was completely withdrawn from Karabakh by June of the same year.

Armenian and anti?Azerbaijani propaganda actively promoted the idea of an alleged threat hanging over the Christian monuments of Karabakh and Zangezur during and after the liberation war. The idea was instilled that Azerbaijanis, as they liberated the territories, would demolish crosses, destroy churches, and take revenge for their mosques. The Azerbaijani side greatly disappointed those who expected to see the walls of Khudaveng shelled from cannons or the ruined belfry of Ganjasar. None of that happened. However, propaganda continued in various forms and on different platforms.

Ganjasar remained in the territory controlled by the separatists, but Khudaveng was returned to Azerbaijan as part of the document on Armenia’s surrender. And everyone was very concerned about how long the Russian post would remain there. In pro?Armenian circles in Russia, they lobbied to keep the post there forever and to turn this territory into some kind of enclave (either of Armenia or of Russia) in order to protect it from the “barbarians”.

The peacekeepers and the Armenian monks who remained in Khudaveng tried to obstruct the Albanian?Ossetian Christian community’s attempts to visit its historical church. The Russian peacekeepers demanded strict coordination of visits, as if the church were not located on Azerbaijani territory. Meanwhile, the Armenian monks established rules, restricted the space for worship, and prohibited access to many rooms in the complex. However, the Azerbaijani side once again demonstrated unique patience and, without any incidents, brought the situation to the point where there were no outsiders left in Khudaveng.

True, not only the outsiders were gone, but also many artifacts.

When Kalbajar returned to Azerbaijan, in November 2020, Armenians, with the assistance of peacekeepers, removed the bells, khachdashes, and church utensils from the monastery. The occupiers did not expect the RMC to establish a post there. When the peacekeepers took control of Khudaveng, the abbot, Hovhannes — a well?known Armenian terrorist — joyfully transported all of this back, believing that the complex would remain under Armenia’s control forever. However, not everything was returned. Moreover, as they were finally leaving the monastery, the Armenians additionally took with them many valuable artifacts.Despite all the attempts by the Armenian side to disown the theft, the stolen items and artifacts later repeatedly resurfaced both in Yerevan and at exhibitions abroad. Moreover, the Armenians themselves actively promoted their “restoration” work during the occupation years, demonstrating the process of falsifications and not thinking that this would ever come back to haunt them.

In 2014, the “restoration” of the monastery’s unique frescoes began. It’s hard to imagine, but when leaving Khudaveng, the occupiers stripped these valuable examples from the walls.

Let’s give the floor to the Azerbaijani historian and political scientist, director of the Center for Caucasus History, Rizvan Huseynov:

The Armenians, as they were leaving Khudaveng, stole the relics of Saint Dadi, after whom they themselves named the monastery — Dadivank. The veneration of Dadi as a disciple of the Apostle Thaddeus did not prevent them from committing this sacrilege. I consider these actions not only a manifestation of disrespect for their own faith but also an insult to the entire Christian world.

Some people think that by committing this vandalism, the Armenians supposedly saved their holy relics from desecration by the “barbarians,” that is, us. But in reality, everything is explained in a much less romantic way.

On the left and right walls of the church, there were large?scale frescoes. As they fled, the occupiers stripped these ancient images from the walls, although during the occupation they had, so to speak, restored them for several years and presented them as examples of Armenian church painting. One wall depicted the Albanian prince Hasan?Jalal Dovla with his mother, Arzu?khatun. And on the opposite wall there was a huge image of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. Why did the images disappear? The thing is that the fresco depicting Hasan?Jalal with his mother clearly shows that the people depicted there are not Armenians. As for the fresco with Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, it’s even simpler. Armenians are Monophysites; they do not recognize Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker as a saint, so his image could not possibly have appeared on the wall of an Armenian church, let alone on such a large scale. Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker is considered a saint by the Monophysite Albanian churches and by the Orthodox. Leaving the fresco would mean leaving proof that Khudaveng does not belong to the Armenian Church, and its founders were not Armenians. Moreover, the tradition of painting churches has never belonged to the Armenian Gregorian Church.

I was in Khudaveng and saw the consequences of the barbarism committed by the occupiers. Unfortunately, they had quite a lot of time to do this. After the occupation of Kalbajar, “restoration” work and illegal archaeological excavations were carried out there between 1997 and 2011, funded by the diaspora and Armenia. During these works, many Albanian burial sites were looted; the “restoration” itself was carried out without any regard for established standards, and imported materials — tuff from the Ania quarry in Armenia — were widely used.

After the liberation of Kalbajar, Azerbaijan, for reasons of humanism, allowed the Armenian side to stay in Khudaveng for some time. And it used this time for nefarious purposes.

Information about the frescoes and khachdashes illegally taken by Armenians from the Khudaveng monastery was entered into the Interpol database. This was reported to journalists by Sabina Hajiyeva, head of the State Service for the Protection, Development and Restoration of the Cultural Heritage of Azerbaijan.

According to her, when leaving the Kalbajar district, the occupying forces looted the Khudaveng monastery complex, taking to the Republic of Armenia the crosses, bells, and other elements that belonged to the complex, including frescoes that were cut from the walls and stolen; these frescoes were later displayed abroad at various foreign exhibitions as “works of art from Armenia.” “In this regard, on October 9, 2025, information about the frescoes and khachdashes dismantled from the Khudaveng Monastery and illegally removed from the country was entered into Interpol’s database ‘Stolen Works of Art’. This provides for international law enforcement mechanisms for the return of these artifacts to the Republic of Azerbaijan in the event that they are found on the territory of one of Interpol’s member states,” Gadzhieva said.

According to media reports, in December 2020, an exhibition held in Yerevan featured a bell, stone inscriptions, frescoes, carpets, and other cultural heritage items belonging to Azerbaijan and stolen from the Khudaveng monastery complex. Subsequently, in the spring of 2022, the stolen artifacts were exhibited in several Italian cities.

The theft of artifacts is not new. Such crimes occur all over the world. However, in the case of Khudaveng, the situation is special — the thief is known, and there is no need to look for him. The criminals who stole the archaeological materials illegally obtained by Armenian black archaeologists during excavations in Agdam, Shusha, and Azykh are also well known by name. The discovered samples were taken to Armenia shortly before the end of the war. Now these materials, which belong to Azerbaijan under international law, are being displayed by the Armenian side on various platforms and presented as evidence of the “Armenian history” of Karabakh.

The thieves are known. Will it be possible to make them return the stolen items? To be honest, it’s hard to believe. There have always been concessions for Armenians, and it’s very doubtful that yet another exhibition somewhere in Europe will be sealed because a thief put the stolen items on display.

But that’s not the main point. The main point is that the occupier is left with only scraps and fragments, while the monuments themselves are now in safe hands. Azerbaijan, with the assistance of the best foreign specialists, will do everything possible to restore the historical appearance of ancient Albanian temples. Experience in this work has already been gained on the liberated lands.