Stepanakert Memorial, War memorial in Stepanakert, Azerbaijan.
Stepanakert Memorial is a commemorative complex in the city center featuring a 21-meter obelisk as its focal point. The space is defined by a water basin with multiple fountains and stone pedestals displaying military portraits.
The memorial complex was created in 1945 with the erection of a 21-meter obelisk to honor the 22,000 residents of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast who died on World War II fronts. The remains of the fallen were buried in a mass grave on the opposite hill. From 1945 to 1990 the complex was managed by the Nagorno-Karabakh Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, and from 1991 to 2023 it was owned by the government of the Republic of Artsakh. After the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, a cemetery for Armenian military casualties was added.
The complex is also called the Victory Monument (Qələbə abidəsi). Its granite pedestals carry portraits of Armenian-Soviet Red Army soldiers honoured as Heroes of the Soviet Union, and the grounds hold a Monument to the Victims of the Sumgait Massacre, erected in 1988, and a memorial to the 1988 Armenian earthquake victims.
The complex is laid out around the central 21-metre obelisk, with the cascade pool and its seven weeping springs beside it and the mass grave on the opposite hill. Visitors walk between the granite pedestals bearing portraits of Red Army soldiers honoured as Heroes of the Soviet Union. The cemetery of Armenian military casualties from the First Nagorno-Karabakh War forms the newest section.
The complex also holds a Monument to the Victims of the Sumgait Massacre, erected in 1988, and a memorial to Artur Mkrtchyan, first chairman of the Nagorno-Karabakh Supreme Council. A granite pedestal carries portraits of local Red Army soldiers named Heroes of the Soviet Union.
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