Karvajar (Kalbajar) province

The bell tower was chronologically next to the chapel. Initially it had been built as an isolated structure. It may be dated by two khachkars situated inside and carved in 1283. The pinion that the khachkars were moved to the bell tower later in the late XIX - early XX cent. (before 1910) is not confirmed by other evidences except S. Jalaliants. On the contrary, as witnessed by a number of visitors, these khachkars had always been standing inside the bell-tower. Information provided by Jalaliants should be a result of some confusion, which may be proved by the fact that there are no and have never been any chapels or any other structures near the bell tower, or east of it, as described by Jalaliants. The total height of the bell-tower is 14.6 m; out of which - 6 m is the height of the second floor - a rotund crowned by a sharp-pointed dome. The only decoration of the ground floor consists of the above mentioned two khachkars standing at the eastern wall and facing the large arched opening in the west, which (quoting M. Hasratian) "actually turn the bell tower to a little museum..." For the first time these khachkars had been described in the eighties. The previous investigators limited themselves only to exclamations of admiration. These two khachkars may be considered the most significant work of art in the whole complex. Really they are so magnificent that at times it seems that the whole campanile is built to frame them and it was not by accident that there were numerous proposals to buy and take them to Europe. We are informed that in the beginning of the eighties of the XIX cent. two Englishmen offered 10.000 rubles to the clergy of Karabakh against these khachkars hut were fortunately rejected. Two Frenchmen made a new proposal to the superior "... to sell the crosses by money" between 1887-1890. " They said, they intended to send the khachkars to France, but his Holiness refused... The same proposal was repeated later by another Frenchman and was denied again.
We have to state with gratitude that those who were in charge of our church appreciated and protected the national values and were not tempted by any sums, thus contributing to the sustenance of the national culture on the land where it historically belonged.