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In the 34th issue for the year 1904 of the project “The Collection of Materials to Describe the Terrain and Tribes in the Caucasus,” the inspector of Hinzir two-year school, N. Shirakuni, published an essay dedicated to Zangezur uyezd. It covers the time the author lived and includes a description of the nature in the uyezd, its agriculture, manners and life of the locals, education and the attitude towards education. The study also contains historical data and recounts the religious structures and ancient monuments there.
In the third part of the essay dedicated to Zangezur uyezd, N. Shirakuni writes about the medieval Armenian monastery Vortnavank on the mountain of a picturesque gorge, along the deep stony bottom of which the small river Bagrushad flew with the famous Lalazar Bridge going over it.

Shirakuni describes the inscriptions carved on the walls of the temple as evidences of the history of the monastery, the time it was reconstructed and the Armenian knights, who thus immortalized their names.

“A peaked mountain, which was once the base of Vorotna fortress, is situated on the north-east from the monastery. A thick stone wall, which in some of its parts consists of natural cliffs, surrounds the monastery. The temple was founded in the first half of the 9th century in Hovhannes Vorotnetsi’s honor, hence the name, Vorotnavank,” the author explains.

The monastery was constructed in accord with the Bizantine architecture. There are Armenian inscriptions of various historical epochs on all four walls of the monastery.

An inscription on the eastern side of the temple reads, “Knight Elikom, his (son) of Tarsachay, reconstructed the church in my memory.”

According to an inscription carved on the western side of the temple in 764 AD (1315), the sons of Elikom, Smbat’s brother and son of Tarsachay, a Knight from Sisak’s house, decided to reconstruct the destroyed temple and left a message about demarcation of the boundaries of the monastery.

“We arranged that Father Mkhitar demarcates the borders of the monastery premises with the river Sirchanakar and Kaylich. The Armenian ‘tsagik’ gave the villages of Irimis and Shampi, and the entire land of Aghojants in Shnger with the water and garden to its homeland,” the inscription says. It also warns that he who appropriates the profits of the monastery or eliminates the inscription, will be responsible for that to God.

A 1327 AD inscription on the northern side of the temple says, “Me, Ter-Stepanos Orbelian, Jalal’s son, Archbishop in the house of Sisakan, came to our paternal house, to the monastery Vahatnu (Vorotna), and saw a hotel constructed by my father Sargis for Burten and his children Beshken and Ivan’s longevity. And I myself wished to take part in that for my memory. Our Godfather gave our village and Kurgi temple to our monastery free from everything for the community had earlier given it, and we gifted our lots for the needs of the hotel. And after that, none of the Armenian kings and magnates has the right to appropriate or annihilate our gifts. May he be responsible for that to God, let he be seized from the three holy cathedrals (ecumenical) and receive the share Judah got. Amen.”

“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, and ethnographic characteristics of the peoples inhabiting the Caucasus region of the Russian Empire.

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