Əbrəqunus


Əbrəqunus is a village and municipality in the Julfa Rayon of Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. It has a population of 2,747.

History

A legend connects the settlement's name to an Armenian patriarch named Arbak.
A medieval Armenian monastery called Surp Karapet was located in Abrakunis. It stood intact but derelict until shortly before 2005, when it was demolished and entirely destroyed. The main church in the monastery was built in 1381 over the ruins of an older church. Internally, it was a domed basilica with four piers. The lower parts of the church were built of cut stone, but the dome and its tall drum were of brick and from a later repair. The interior had some Persian-style frescoes from the 1740s. On the exterior walls were various relief carvings – crosses, eagles, etc. Beside the south wall was a small chapel dedicated to St. Stephanos; in 1705 a bell tower was added to the roof of this chapel. The monastery had a fortified enclosure wall made of mud brick. Beside the entrance to the church was a khachkar with an inscription dated 1074.