Historians have cataloged more than five thousand Armenian monuments of Karabakh.

A two-volume electronic catalog "Monuments of Material Culture of the Republic of Artsakh" has been published in Armenia, prepared by Karabakh historians. It includes information about 5,658 monuments in 308 settlements of Nagorno-Karabakh, including those that have already been destroyed.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on September 6, activists announced the destruction of an Armenian-Russian cemetery in Karabakh, and in May, the organization Caucasus Heritage Watch reported the destruction of a memorial in Stepanakert dedicated to the centenary of the Armenian genocide based on satellite images. Karabakh historians and activists have repeatedly stated that the authorities of Azerbaijan are destroying historical buildings and memorials; in Baku, they insist that Christian monuments are protected by the state.

The publication is released in Armenian and English. It contains documents and photographic materials about monuments in seven administrative regions of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and in Stepanakert, spanning 1,088 pages. The catalog is available for download at artsakhculturalheritage.org.

The authors of the catalog are Doctor of Historical Sciences Vagram Balayan, Candidate of Historical Sciences Melania Balayan, lecturer at the Department of Archaeology and Ethnography of Yerevan State University Lerik Ovanisyan, and archaeologist Slava Sargsyan. The publication was financed by the Boston-based "Vache Fattali Foundation", and its publication was recommended by the academic council of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia.

The catalog systematically records the monuments of the region, including those that have been lost, says co-author Vagram Balayan. "The catalog includes not only preserved and partially preserved monuments but also those that have been destroyed. This is fundamentally important because even a destroyed monument remains part of historical and cultural memory if its existence is documented. The work is based not on individual testimonies but on a combination of sources — research by specialists, archival materials, printed primary sources, and publications in periodicals. We aimed not just to compile a list of monuments but to show them in their historical context," he told a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot".

According to Balayan, the publication is also addressed to the international community. "Damage, alteration, and destruction of monuments mean the loss not only of individual architectural objects but also of part of humanity's cultural memory. Therefore, our catalog is both a scientific documentation and an appeal to the international community to do everything possible to preserve heritage of universal value," said the professor.

A significant part of the Armenian heritage created before the 19th century remains in Karabakh, notes co-author of the catalog, former Minister of Culture of Nagorno-Karabakh Lerik Ovanisyan. "385 churches, 60 monastery complexes, 2,835 khachkars, and 400 cemeteries, all of which are under threat of disappearance," he said. According to him, after the exodus of the Armenian population, international conventions, including UNESCO conventions, regarding this heritage are not being observed.

Before 2020, more than 5,600 out of over 10,000 historical and cultural objects were officially registered in Nagorno-Karabakh, says Vice President of the historical and cultural NGO "Azgain", chairman of the organization "Ombudsman of Cultural Heritage of Artsakh" Ovik Avanesov. According to media and social media monitoring, from September 27, 2020, to September 2026, more than a thousand cases of vandalism against monuments have been recorded. "The actual number of destroyed monuments may be significantly higher, as many cases do not enter the public domain, and access to Artsakh for international organizations and independent structures is virtually non-existent," Avanesov said. He described the publication of books, albums, and catalogs as an opportunity to preserve reliable information about the monuments.

The value of the publication lies in the fact that it records not only the existence of monuments but also their condition, believes the chairman of the "Agency for the Development of Tourism and Culture of Artsakh" Sergey Shahverdyan. "The publication systematically compiles and verifies information about 5,658 monuments - monasteries, churches, khachkars, fortresses, and other objects, as well as about 308 settlements. Behind each monument lies a specific history, architecture, and evidence of the centuries-old presence of the Armenian people in Artsakh," he said.

"When monuments are physically destroyed or altered, documentary evidence becomes virtually the only way to preserve information about their original appearance, origin, and historical context. The fundamental nature of this publication lies not only in its volume but primarily in the fact that it creates a basis for preserving historical memory," Shahverdyan added. According to him, there are numerous testimonies of the destruction, desecration, alteration of the appearance, and renaming of Armenian monuments, as well as attempts to present them as part of another cultural tradition.

On September 19-20, 2023, Azerbaijan conducted large-scale military operations in Karabakh, after which an agreement was reached to cease hostilities and disarm the Karabakh Defense Army. As of January 1, 2024, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic ceased to exist in accordance with the decree of its last president Samvel Shahramanyan. The "Caucasian Knot" has prepared a reference "The Beginning and End of the Unrecognized Republic of Artsakh".