Yerevan Gates Cemetery

Between Oct. 5 and Nov. 3 bulldozers carved a road through an historic Armenian burial ground in Shusha/Shushi known as the Yerevan Gates cemetery. The official monument list of NKR lists 78 tombstones dating to between 1802 and 1913. Harutyunyan (2008) transcribed the inscriptions, the vast majority of which were written in Armenian, and documented the representation of 120 extended families. Dense forest obscures the cemetery. We used maps and publications of Shusha/i to trace its borders. It is unclear how many tombstones were damaged, but research shows that burials covered the area. The tombstones of women and men, young and old, tell stories of kinship, occupation, faith, status, and more. And they ask that the deceased may rest in peace.