Argam Ayvazyan beside a khachkar

The photograph shows the historian and researcher Argam Ayvazyan, the man who documented the medieval Armenian khachkars of Jugha. Over decades he carefully recorded thousands of khachkars in the territory of Nakhijevan, aware of their exceptional value. His work has become an irreplaceable source, since most of those khachkars were later completely destroyed.

Ayvazyan stands beside a large khachkar in a green field. Crosses and carved ornament, partly covered with lichen, can be seen on the stone. Snow-capped mountains rise in the distance.