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RE: In and around the The Diri Baba Mausoleum. Azerbaijan.

in Worldmappin8 days ago

Gorgeous headstones! I found nicely decorated tombstones in the surroundings of Gori and also Uplistsikhe in Georgia. Probably, wherever there’s soft-ish stone, people carve tombstones to pass the long winter days... I just know that other parts of Georgia - at least where I've been - have no such art.

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Gori and also Uplistsikhe in Georgia.

Those are pretty much just where the Greater Armenia borders came to an end. So in parts of Georgia you may see some similar designs but they're often monuments dedicated to certain Armenian history given the Armenian population that once and still does occupy most of those regions. Usually towns along the south and border.

some similar designs

What I saw in Gori and Uplistsikhe weren't Armenian khachkars - just local stone tombstones with carved decorations. This tradition could form only in areas where soft stone available - in Uplistsikhe they carved a city out of this stone exactly for this reason.

Greater Armenia existed 1500 years ago, and, it looks, even at its best time didn't include the Gori/Uplistsikhe area.

There are khachkars in Georgia near the Georgia-Armenia border, Javakheti region.

I just found what the ruins (with the tombstones) I visited - old Uplistsikhe village abandoned in the XX century. People were re-settled to new Uplistsikhe, no Armenians live there.

The place in the 1970s. The source

The 1900s. The source

Yes very intricate in their design, all done by craftsmen with basic tools