On September 7, 1981 the government demolished the five-thousand-year-old village of Bardzrashen in the Shirak Marz. They destroyed the village, arguing that there was insufficient water, in order to seize the land and to make neighboring Maralik the regional center. The young people of the village appealed to the secretary of the central committee of the communist party, trying to save the village from depopulation. They were turned down and the decision was made to completely demolish Bardzrashen. 560 of its 1100 hectares became part of Maralik, and another parcel part of Isahakian. Its inhabitants were resettled in Maralik and Isahakian. The next morning a villager who owned six cows had to stand in line for milk.

In 1987, the government permitted the Electron integrated industrial complex to organize a subsidiary livestock business and granted it 26 hectares of Bardzrashen land. The deal had been proposed by Knyaz Knyazian, one of the heads of the complex, and a resident of Bardzrashen by birth. Here is why: "When the secretary of the regional committee of the communist party came to Bardzrashen to persuade the villagers to demolish their houses, my father took a stone, gave it to him and said: 'I became an orphan when I was 15 years old, but I did not feel as much pain then as I do now, when my village is being destroyed. Here, take this stone, throw it at my head and kill me, but don't destroy my house'. They tore my father's house down. And those tears my father shed were the reason that I decided to work so hard to rebuild the village".

After the earthquake of 1988, the former inhabitants of Bardzrashen began returning to their native village. Somehow they restored their houses, and started everything from zero. "They cut off our electricity, disconnected the telephone lines, but we struggled and we live here. Even the Turks wouldn't have done such a thing", says Brdzrashen villager Khachik Simonian. Today Bardzrashen is an inhabited locality within the Isahakian community. In 1997, the government made a provision to grant 48 hectares of the reserve land fund for the development of the village of Bardzrashen, but this decision has not been fulfilled up to now.

From the history of the village

Cemeteries from the pagan and Christian eras, as well as a pedestal of a monument dedicated to sun worship have been preserved in the village. Clay artifacts have been discovered during excavations on the territory of the village-- bracelets, pot lids, etc. Bardzrashen used to be a summer residence of the Bagratuni princes. Before the 1800s, the village had a natural water source: Water reached the villagers through the Kankan water pipe. Thanks to its highland location the village had great strategic significance. When enemies attacked, the villagers could watch their every move from the heights. And the local inhabitants rang church bells to warn the surrounding villages. Because of that, the enemy sought to depopulate these places. They tried to deprive the village of water. They blocked the source of the Kankan water-supply canal with filthy wool. The water-supply canal stopped working. Left without water, the village was abandoned. In 1848, the inhabitants of Bardzrashen returned to the village, and dug reservoirs. The houses of the Barszrashen villagers surround the Church of the Blessed Virgin. Built out of tufa stone, this half-standing 7th century church is considered to be a sister-church of a monastery in Ani. Not far from the village is the tufa-stone monastery of Sts. Peter and St. Paul (10th-13th century).

There were seven Gospels in the village. Only two of them have been preserved - the golden-edged and the red. The golden-edged Gospel was brought to the village by Arakel, the priest of the village of Shirvanshir of Mush (present day Turkey). They say that in Shirvanshir, Turkish soldiers threw the Gospel into the hot tonir (pit-oven). But after whirling in the flames it flew out of the tonir. Many people say that the priest used the Gospel to cure the sick. The golden-edged Gospel has been kept at the dilapidated house of the priest Arakel until today.

We are the real independent ones

Today 75 people live in Bardzrashen. Because of the lack of houses they live, as they put it, as if in patriarchal families - several brothers live together. They do not complain; they say they manage to get by. 17 families live in 10 houses. The largest family in Bardzrashen is Khachik's. For 34 years now he has lived with his wife Anya. Anya was barely 15 when he "tricked" her and brought her as a bride from the city.

"When I saw the village… well I was a city girl…I was afraid of the cows. I was unfamiliar with country life, at first Khachik would even tie a rope around my waist so that I wouldn't fall into the tonir. But little by little I got used to it and I didn't disgrace myself", says Anya. They have four children. Three of them are married. For six or seven years they lived in Maralik. But as Khachik says, he hardly lived a whole year there; he used to spend most of each day in his home village. Most of the housework is on Anya's shoulders. She gets up early in the morning, milks the cows, feeds the animals, etc. Twice a week they bake lavash (Armenian bread) in the tonir. They are content with their life, they are happy that there is no "bad company" for the kids. But all the adults want their daughters to start families in the city; the village is not interesting for young people - they need novelty, change. The main occupation for the young boys is pasturing the animals. The girls and brides bring water from the reservoirs, they gather hay. Even the children worry - the rain makes their haystacks wet, the animals spoil them...

The local authorities and officials only remember the village during elections. They come, make promises and go. "We are the real independent ones, no need to observe the law, nothing", says Khachik. There is no hospital here. What they do is take pregnant women down to the hospital in the neighboring village of Aghin on horseback.

The Bardzrashen school has a six-year history. It is a rusty railcar with half-broken chairs, a couple of desks, a blackboard and ragged maps. It is an eight-year primary school, with 17 pupils. This year they had their first graduate. The teachers have mainly secondary education. There is no library - the teachers manage to get books from different places, and the students take turns reading them. The locals speak about their school with pride. After all, they created it all by themselves.