Papravend Historical Cemetery

This cemetery appears on the list of heritage sites of the Republic of Azerbaijan (inventory No. 5750) as an archaeological monument dating to the medieval era. The cemetery consists of two components–a large field of tombs east of the north-south road and a smaller area of burials to the west.

In CHW’s Special Report #2, “Between the Wars”, we concluded that the site had suffered major damage between 2011 and 2020, during the administration of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, when there was evidence that tombstones had been knocked over and at least one mausoleum in the eastern area destroyed.

In CHW’s current monitoring mission, we observe a new threat to the western extent of the cemetery. Earth moving equipment appears to have scraped the territory near the west side of the cemetery.