Մասնակից:Vanik Tatoyan/Ավազարկղ9

Motkor, an old village area in the south-eastern part of Tumanyan region of Lori marz . Covers the middle and upper banks of the River Martsa.

Origin of the name

The folklore explains the origin of the name Motkor as follows: In the past, only the forest was called Motkor, which was so dense and impassable that the locals called it "dark side". As soon as it got dark, the gorge and the villages in it were buried in thick darkness. The name of the gorge allegedly originated from the expression "lost in the dark". Over time, the name Motkor came about as a result of a number of sound changes in the pronunciation.

History

It was founded in the 11th-12th centuries, it was inhabited until the 18th century. It was destroyed by the invasions of the Caucasian mountaineers. The houses that remained intact are an evidence that the settlement was suddenly abandoned. Motkor occupied a rather large area. In the central part was the royal castle, from which only two huge boulders stacked on top of each other have been preserved. The people call them "Pahlevan's rock" (Pahlevan, brave, wrestler in Armenian). Below them are the ruins of many buildings, the remains of a wall covered with huge stones, which are now covered with dense forest. The ruins of the medieval settlement of Motkor are located 5 km south-east of Igatak, under Pogherasar rock. The ruins of Motkor testify that it was a village, many others claim that it was a city. It had an impregnable position, it was surrounded by walls, the remains of which, huge stones, have been preserved in some places.

Settlements

Motkor was so famous that the whole Martsa gorge was later named after it.

The oldest settlement in Motkor is Marts . Although medieval written sources do not provide accurate information about Marts, the many spiritual, standing monuments and other historical sources attest to the village's antiquity. Until the middle of the 19th century, Marts was the only settlement in Motkor. Later, 15-20 km east of Marts village, four villages were established: Lorut, Atan, Shamut and Ahnidzor.

According to locals, Motkor is the queen of Lori.

Medieval bridges

Martsaget, a large tributary to the right bank of Debed , formerly known as Babajan, flows through the Motkor gorge. There are dozens of bridges on the tributaries of the Martsa River, some of which, having built hundreds of years ago, stand out not only according to their strength, but also serve as bridges up to these days.

Not far from the area, on the river Marts, there are two medieval stone bridges. The first is known in the scientific literature as the Motkan Bridge, but the inhabitants of the nearby villages call it the Motkor or Jukhtak Bridge. The arches are still preserved. The bridge has two arches, moreover, the two large pieces of rock on the two banks of the river served as a basis for the bridge's arches, and the natural rock served as a middle basis pillar.

Just above Motkor Bridge is the second Soti Bridge. It is so called because it is built on the road leading to the homonymous surrounding area. Though Soti Bridge is partly used by the residents of the surrounding villages, it is quite dilapidated.

Legend

Motkor was located in a murky forest, and day and night it was dark there! Going very far from the village, people used to get lost and unable to come back. Hence, they used to call out to hear from someone to move to their voice direction in order to find the way back, or stand still to hear a dog barking or a rooster crowing to go to their voice direction to find the village.

The one who got lost, used to call out:

"Kora! Kora (I got lost, I got lost) Help please!

From the village they could hear:

"Where did you get lost?":

"Motik kora, Motik kora (I got lost close)!

And the echoing "Motkora! Motkora!" was spread all over the murky forest.

From then on, that part of the murky forest was called Murky Forest of Motkor (Motkora Tsmak in Armenian), and the name of the village remained as village area of Motkor (Motkora Geghategh in Armenian).

References