Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva visited Khudavang Monastery Complex in Kalbajar

On September 2, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva visited the Khudavang Monastery Complex in the Kalbajar district.

Minister of Culture Adil Karimli provided the President and First Lady with information about the monument.

During the occupation, illegal "restoration" work was carried out in the Khudavang Monastery with the support of the Armenian Apostolic Church and funding from the Armenian government. These so-called restorations included falsifications to the Arzu Khatun and Hasan the Great churches, as well as other buildings within the complex, many of which suffered acts of vandalism. Following the liberation of the region, Armenian priests and monks, with the help of foreign specialists, illegally removed ancient frescoes from the site and smuggled them out of Azerbaijan.

In December 2020, items stolen from the Khudavang Monastery, including bells, stone inscriptions, frescoes, carpets, and other cultural treasures belonging to Azerbaijan, were unlawfully displayed at an exhibition in Yerevan. Later, these frescoes were misrepresented as "Armenian traditional art" at an exhibition in Padua, Italy, titled "Frescoes in Armenian Christian Churches from the 7th to 13th Centuries." This exhibition was also held in several other Italian cities.