European experts implement mission to Armenia to assess urgent risks at the Arakelots Monastery and Settlement

From 16 to 22 April 2026, European experts travelled to Armenia for a mission to the Arakelots Monastery and Settlement, listed among the 7 Most Endangered heritage sites in Europe for 2025. The site was nominated by the Armenian Studies Division, Centre for the Study of the Christian East, University of Salzburg, in recognition of its exceptional cultural significance and the urgent need to halt its ongoing deterioration, under the coordination of Prof. Dr. Jasmine Dum-Tragut, Professor of Armenian Studies and Director of the Centre.

The mission brought together international and Armenian experts in cultural heritage and sustainable development: David Castrillo, Lead Architect of the 7 Most Endangered Programme; Vanessa Fraga Prol, Advocacy and Partnerships Manager at Europa Nostra; and Gaiane Casnati, Conservator Architect and Scientific Director of SIREH Center for Armenian Cultural Heritage.

During the mission, the European delegation met with public authorities, academic institutions, representatives of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and local stakeholders, in a shared effort to mobilise urgent action for a heritage site that is both highly significant and increasingly at risk.

The Arakelots Monastery and Settlement is facing serious and accelerating threats, including structural instability, water infiltration, fragile masonry, and the absence of effective conservation and management systems. Roof collapse risks, uncontrolled access, and vulnerability to looting require immediate attention.

Equally concerning is the fact that the wider settlement landscape remains insufficiently protected and only partially understood, despite its outstanding historical value. The mission strongly reaffirmed that Arakelots is not a single monument, but a complex cultural landscape comprising a settlement whose integrity is at risk without coordinated and timely intervention.

The experts also highlighted the urgent need for strengthened governance, capacity building, and professional training, as the shortage of skilled conservation specialists continues to challenge sustainable heritage protection in Armenia.

These concerns were further underscored during field visits to the site and its surrounding valley landscape, which revealed both the richness and fragility of the Arakelots system, including monastic, defensive, and settlement structures, such as mills, bridges, chapels, baths, and ancillary buildings, many of them in advanced states of decay without active protection.

Against this backdrop, the research team’s profile becomes a decisive asset. Prof. Dr. Jasmine Dum-Tragut’s command of numerous ancient and modern languages opens access to a substantial body of documentary, epigraphic, and literary sources that remain largely unexplored in relation to the site. Combined with the interdisciplinary composition of the team, this creates a rare opportunity to approach Arakelots in a way that is innovative by any standard, and particularly within the Armenian scholarly context: not as a single-discipline conservation exercise, but as a multidimensional inquiry into how this place was inhabited, by whom, and within which cultural and spiritual frameworks.

Such research requires time, access, and sustained institutional support, yet its outcomes are essential for sound and responsible conservation decision-making. The urgency of physical stabilisation must therefore be matched by an equally urgent commitment to safeguarding the conditions for rigorous scientific investigation, before any irreversible interventions risk altering or obscuring the very material evidence on which that knowledge depends.

On 17 April, the delegation participated in the International Symposium on the Arakelots Monastery and Settlement at the Ijevan Branch of Yerevan State University, where ongoing archaeological and conservation research was presented. The symposium confirmed the site’s outstanding value, while also revealing fragmented knowledge and the lack of a consolidated long-term conservation strategy.

A series of meetings in Yerevan and field visits addressed the future of the Arakelots archaeological site and broader heritage restoration policy in Armenia.

Meetings with national and regional authorities in Yerevan and Tavush Province underlined both the urgency of action and the need for careful sequencing of interventions. The mission team strongly advocates for the development and implementation of a comprehensive research and conservation plan as a prerequisite to, or in parallel with, any preservation initiative. Reconstruction undertaken without this foundation risks causing irreversible damage to the very historical stratification that makes the site exceptional. A constructive and sustained collaboration between researchers, conservation professionals, and public authorities will be essential to ensure that decisions are grounded in evidence rather than urgency alone.

The site’s location in Tavush Province, in close proximity to the border with Azerbaijan, further underscores the strategic and symbolic significance of getting this process right.

At the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography (NAS RA), led by Dr. Prof. Arsen Bobokhyan, discussions focused on ongoing excavations, research methodology (notably stratigraphy), and the need to formalise a dedicated working group for Arakelots to ensure long-term coordination and continuity.

At the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, talks with the Department for the Protection of Monuments addressed state-led restoration plans, international tender procedures, and the role of qualified architects. Participants stressed the need for further research before defining restoration goals and raised the possibility of involving the Arakelots team in tender preparation and supervision.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (UNESCO coordination), discussions covered heritage policy, site security, tourism, and geopolitical sensitivities, with emphasis on timing and Armenia’s current focus on restoring civil architecture alongside religious monuments.

At the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the Armenian Apostolic Church reaffirmed its essential role as custodian of ecclesiastical heritage and stressed the importance of approaches that respect the spiritual, liturgical, and community dimensions of sacred sites.

Engagements with private-sector actors involved in restoration initiatives highlighted promising opportunities for collaboration, while also drawing attention to the critical shortage of trained conservation professionals in the field.

The mission confirms that the Arakelots Monastery and Settlement stands at a critical tipping point. Without immediate and coordinated action, there is a serious risk of further irreversible loss of its material fabric, spatial coherence, and cultural significance.

The expert team, together with the nominator and local stakeholders, is now preparing a technical report with recommendations to be published by Europa Nostra in 2026, including urgent measures to stabilise the site and establish a framework for its long-term safeguarding and sustainable future.