Visit to the Khudavang Monastery Complex

On September 2, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva visited the Khudavang Monastery Complex located in the Kalbajar district.

The Khudavang Monastery, a world-famous architectural monument, was subjected to Armenian aggression between 1992 and 2020. During this occupation, under the pretense of “restoration”, illegal activities were carried out at the site with the support of the Armenian Apostolic Church and funding from the Armenian state. Falsified architectural elements were added to the Arzu Khatun, Hasan the Great Churches and other buildings within the complex, many parts of the monuments suffered acts of vandalism. After the liberation of our territories from occupation, Armenian priests and monks at the monastery illegally removed the ancient frescoes from the monuments using a special method with the help of foreign experts and smuggled them out of Azerbaijan. The cross stones and inscriptions with two circular rosettes and a cross composition in the form of a tree of life placed side by side on the bell tower of the Khudavang monastery complex were also dismantled and looted during the occupation.