Monument “We are our mountains” (Khankendi / Stepanakert)

Azerbaijan / Xankendi / Khankendi / Stepanakert
 monument, interesting place, 1967_construction

Monument “We are our mountains” (Armenian: Մե՛նք ենք մեր սարերը) or “Grandfather and Grandmother” (Armenian: Տատիկ-պապիկ, “tatik-papik”). A symbol of Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenian heritage and embodies the "undying spirit of the local people." The monument is depicted on the coat of arms of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and the city of Stepanakert.
Opening: November 1, 1967
Author: Sarkis Baghdasaryan.
Architect: Yuri Akopyan.
Height: 9 m.
The sculpture represents the heads of two elderly Karabakh spouses in national Armenian headdresses, reminiscent of the two peaks of Mount Ararat; According to local tradition, the woman's face is covered with a headscarf or scarf. Made from Armavir's reddish tuff. The statue does not have a pedestal, which, according to the author, should create the feeling that the figures were born from the mountains, grew into the mountains and became related to them; this compositional solution is ideologically similar to the Moai statues.
History.
When Soviet representatives from Baku came to the opening of the monument in Stepanakert, they asked: “Don’t these figures have legs?” The artist replied: “They exist, and they are deeply rooted in their land.” There were attempts by the Azerbaijani authorities to prevent its installation.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   39°50'13"N   46°46'11"E

Comments

  • The monument was built in 1967 with funds from the Azerbaijan SSR. The opening of the monument was timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the most famous Karabakh centenarian, Shirin Hasanov, who was born in 1817 in the Karabakh Khanate. During these years, Karabakh had the largest number of those over 100 years old in the USSR. Sculptor Sarkis Baghdasaryan, born and raised in Azerbaijan. Architect Safi Garayev. The monument was used by Armenians in the 90s as a gathering place for women with low social responsibility and propaganda of the occupation of Karabakh. The monument is an architectural legacy of the Soviet period of "modernism" in art, which should not be identified with the former occupying Armenian forces.
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  • Monument “We are our mountains” (Armenian: Մե՛նք ենք մեր սարերը) or “Grandfather and Grandmother” (Armenian: Տատիկ-պապիկ, “tatik-papik”). A symbol of Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenian heritage and embodies the "undying spirit of the local people." The monument is depicted on the coat of arms of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and the city of Stepanakert. Opening: November 1, 1967 Author: Sarkis Baghdasaryan. Architect: Yuri Akopyan. Height: 9 m. The sculpture represents the heads of two elderly Karabakh spouses in national Armenian headdresses, reminiscent of the two peaks of Mount Ararat; According to local tradition, the woman's face is covered with a headscarf or scarf. Made from Armavir's reddish tuff. The statue does not have a pedestal, which, according to the author, should create the feeling that the figures were born from the mountains, grew into the mountains and became related to them; this compositional solution is ideologically similar to the Moai statues. History. When Soviet representatives from Baku came to the opening of the monument in Stepanakert, they asked: “Don’t these figures have legs?” The artist replied: “They exist, and they are deeply rooted in their land.” There were attempts by the Azerbaijani authorities to prevent its installation.