St. Hovhannes-Mkrtich Church (Yukhari Aylis)
church in Yukhari Aylis, Azerbaijan
St. Hovhannes-Mkrtich Church was an Armenian Apostolic Church located in the lower district of Yukhari Aylis village of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan. It was located approximately 400-500m southwest of St. Shmavon Church of the same village.
History
The church was renovated in 1663, according to literary sources and an Armenian inscription on the base of the cupola of the church. The church was in a partially ruined condition in the late Soviet period.
Architectural characteristics
It had a polygonal apse and two-storied vestries on either side, an eight-windowed dome rested atop four octagonal pillars. There were Armenian inscriptions on the perimeter of the dome. The frescoes on the church, added in 1686, were largely decayed. Some 150 tombstones existed along the northern and eastern sides of the church, within the perimeter wall.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “St. Hovhannes-Mkrtich Church (Yukhari Aylis)” as church in Yukhari Aylis, Azerbaijan. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as church in Yukhari Aylis, Azerbaijan. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q97206149. Authority coordinates are 38.948, 45.978. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1663 and 1686.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “St. Hovhannes-Mkrtich Church (Yukhari Aylis)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.