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1881 of the project “The Collection of Materials to Describe the Terrain and Tribes in the Caucasus,” Nakhijevan city school inspector K.A. Nikitin published an extensive research titled “Nakhijevan: Biblical and legendary tales, historical data and ancient monuments.”

The author of the research gave a detailed description of the city Nakhijjevan, as well as the more or less significant towns and settlements in the uyezd. In a brief historical excurse across the area, the author notes that the patriarchal see and the Armenian kings’ capital used to be in Nakhijevan before Byzantine Empire conquered it in the 11th century.

The town Nikitin first refers to in the research is Julfa (Armenian name Jugha). “A handful of Armenians have settled down here since the ancient times. This settlement is the famous Julfa mentioned in the works of the Armenian historians from the remotest times. The abutments of two or three bridges that used to go over the river Araks in the ancient times can be still seen in the river here. Caravans took merchandize from Persia to Armenia and back across these bridges; Julfa was the main crossroads on this way,” the author writes.

As for the population and their fate, he notes that over 50 thousand people inhabited Julfa back in 1600. Still now (1881 – ed.), only a remarkably vast cemetery with countless tombstones is remaining from the town. The tombstones, resembling the sepulchers in Hellas, depict the craft of those deceased and emblems symbolizing what they were renowned for during the lifetime. In 1605, Shah Abbas destroyed Julfa, and his troops looted it. The 50 thousand inhabitants in 12 thousand families were exiled to Persia and settled nearby Ispahan; here they founded the suburb New Julfa.

“A tiny village still exists on the place Julfa used to stand in those times. Only recently, between 10 and 12 families still dwelled here, but in 1848, they left the gorge and moved to another place,” the author writes.

Thousands of Armenian khachkars (cross-stones) were destroyed in Old Jugha, which was included into the territory of Azerbaijan along with Nakhijevan. The latest reported case of destruction of khachkars was in 2005-2006, when the Azerbaijani soldiers broke down the khachkars with heavy equipment. The territory of the cemetery was turned into a shooting-ground. There used to be about 10 thousand Armenian khachkars of 9-17 centuries in Jugha before the barbaric destruction.

“The Collection of Materials to Describe the Terrain and Tribes in the Caucasus” is a large-scale publication of narrative sources carried out by the management of the Caucasus Educational Okrug in 1881-1908. It includes researches and description of the history, life, way of life and ethnographic characteristics of the peoples inhabiting the Caucasus region of the Russian Empire.