YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. The ceremony of anointing a copy of Old Jugha cross-stone was held in Yerevan. As reports “Armenpress”, the cross-stone was made by national master, proclaimed expert of the field Varazdat Hambardzumyan. The ceremony was offered by Rev. Fr. Hakob Khachatryan, the spiritual pastor of St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral. It is considered that the anointed cross-stone will be erected in one of the communities of the Armenian Diaspora.

The last case of the Armenian cross-stones destruction has been recorded in 2005-2006, when tens of Azeri soldiers armed with huge hammers and machines were destroying Armenian cross-stones in Old Jugha cemetery. They were destroyed and removed to make room for construction of a shooting ground. More than 27,000 cross-stones and Armenian monuments have been destroyed in Nakhijevan since 1998.