With the decade-long occupation of Azerbaijan's lands by Armenians and the earlier annexation of entire, historically Azeri regions to the country's neighbors by Russians, not much is left in present-day Azerbaijan to tell the story or show signs of the rich heritage of Caucasian Albanians, the most ancient and least studied ethnical community in the ethnically diversified Caucasus.

Of the 26 multi-language nations who inhabited the Kingdom of (Caucasian) Albania [4th century BC - 10th century AD], only Utis or Udins - a nation of 5,000 living in Azerbaijan's Gabala and Oghuz districts and in the village of Oktomberi in the eastern part of Georgia - have saved their ethnical identity and distinctive culture.

Utis are Christians, and in the past there was the Albanian Church, which rose again in 2003, after a demise in 1836 that was plotted by the Armenian Gregorian Church.
Despite its turbulent history - dependence on the Religious Order of the Huns (Turkic nation that gave the strongestimpetus to the Great Migration of the Nations, contributed strongly to the demise of the Roman Empire and heavily enriched the cultural heritage of Europe), then Orthodox Byzantine, and, with the help of Arabs, the Armenian Gregorian Church, with the periods of independence from 488 to 506б and 551 to 705, and from the 10th century to 1836, as well as switching from originally accepted Diophysite [acceptance of Jesus the Christ as the God and a human being in one] to Byzantine-spread Monophysite [acceptance of Jesus the Christ as the God only] congregational orders - the Albanian Church was a consolidating power for many (Caucasian) Albanians from the land of Palestine to modern-day Iran. The Kingdom of (Caucasian) Albania itself occupied the territory that included present-day Azerbaijan, the southern part of Dagestan (an autonomous republic in Russia, north of Azerbaijan), the eastern part of modern-day Georgia, a part of Iran's north-west (close to Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic) and almost three-fourth of present-day Armenia, where Albanian churches and monasteries can be identified by a series of special features, including fire-shaped crosses and the Runic script.

In Azerbaijan, one of the apparent vestiges of evidence of (Caucasian) Albanians is a church in the country's Sheki District, a tourism hub, some 370 km northwest of Baku.

In his fundamental work, describing history of the (Caucasian) Albanians, Moses Kalankatly, an Albanian historian, called that church as the Mother Church of Albanians and wrote that it was built at the settlement of Gis [present-day Kish village, some 6 km east of the Sheki city -Ed.], in the 1st or early in the 2nd centuries AD by St. Elise, a disciple of Apostle Thaddeus. As to Moses Kalankatly he came from the settlement of Kalankat in Albania's Uti region that nestled between the present-day Garabagh and Ganja-Gazakh regions of Azerbaijan.

The Kish church is believed to be the oldest in the Caucasus. Though, there was another construction dated back from the 1st century - a basilica that might be the place of burial of Apostle Thaddeus, the first Christian missioner in the Caucasus. Called the Albanian Basilica, the compound, 16.2 meter long and 4.2 meter wide, built of trimmed stone, forms part of the Khotavank or Khashavanak Monastery, one of the major religious, scientific and medical centers for Christian Utis in the Middle Ages. The monastery is located in Armenian-occupied Kalbajar district, atop a wood-covered hill and close to the Istisu, a mineral spring that is a cure for gastric-intestinal, urology and a string of other illnesses.

During the Soviet times, improper attention has been paid to the church. After gaining its independence from the (former) Soviet Union, Azerbaijan started to pave its way into the orbit of foreign scientists who majored in religious studies. The first response came from Norwegians, whose interest in Kish, a struggling village of more than 5,000 inhabitants, loomed up following the broadcast of a documentary about the Kish church in Azerbaijan. The documentary, produced by Norwegian scriptwriter Eyvind Skeie, made one of the major headlines on Norwegian TV channels, on the Christmas Day, in 1998.

Eyvind Skeie was earlier involved in cultural projects implemented jointly by Norway and Azerbaijan. His documentary urged the concerned sides to start a deep exploration of the church as soon as possible.

Indeed, memories of the past cluster round this spot, which sneaked out of the danger of being demolished by Armenians, who were settled down in Kish by the Russian Empire in the 19th century, but were later forced out following protests by local people.

Eventually, the documentary rouse Norwegian-American archeologist Bjornar Storfjell to real action. Srorfjell carried out several projects focused on the research on churches dating back from the Early Middle Ages and associated with the Byzantine civilization.

In February 2000, an agreement was signed between Architecture and Construction University, on behalf of the Government of Azerbaijan, and the Norwegian Humanitarian Enterprise, to start the four-stage Kish project in Sheki. The project lasted till 2003, with the transformation of the church into the Museum of (Caucasian) Albania as the final end in view.

The first stage dealt with investigations of architectural and archeological aspects of the church. During archeological excavations, the researchers unveiled that originally the church had been built as a vaulted hall. Later, in the 7th and 8th centuries, a dome was added on the original compound.

The second stage started in the autumn of 2000. The primary objective was to set up a design for the restoration of the building, in strict accordance with the outcomes of previously completed architectural and archeological investigations. The project was co-authored by Prof. Gulchohra Mammadova, the head of Architecture and Construction University, and assistant professors T. Abdullayev, and S. Hajiyeva). It was required that the original design of the church be kept as intact as possible.

The third stage was launched in June 2001, and was devoted to the restoration that lasted a year. Needless to say, the restorers removed all changes Armenians made in the architectural structure of the church in the 19th century. To start with the lowering of the chancel floor to the original level, as was unveiled during excavations, and the tiling of the roof and cupola of the church, following the removal of the iron cover.

Finally, the fourth stage made the focus on turning the church, where ancestors of the (Caucasian) Albanians didn't pray for centuries, into a museum.

The project-envisioned excavations unveiled a string of interesting facts related to the history of the Kish church. These facts are a sheer evidence of the Kish church being one of the oldest Christian churches in the world.

Storfjell said: "I strongly believe that this church was built as Albanian Diophysite Church. The reason of my opinion comes from the architectural structure of the church. The height of altar apse (place where people pray) was 30-40 cm in its initial structure. This kind of height in altar apse certainly shows that Kish church belonged to Diophysite position as all Albanian churches".

For her part, Prof. Gulchohra Mammadova expressed the following peculiar features of (Caucasian) Albanian churches: "There are some churches in Shusha, as well as [other parts of] Garabagh, and Shamkir district built by Armenians. But it does not mean that all churches in Azerbaijan were built by Armenians. Needless to say, in 1828 Armenians moved to Azerbaijan from Turkey and Iran by Tsarist Russia, and started to use Albanian churches. They made some additions to Albanian churches and managed to appropriate some of them."

Paradoxically, it was an Armenian who discovered some neglected churches in Garabagh in 1909. Following the loss of independence of the Albanian Church and its subordination to the Armenian Gregorian Church in 1836, Armenians forayed at Albanian churches and took many of its religious rarities, including scripts, to Echmiadzin, the city where the principal Armenian church is used as the residence of the Catholicos [head of the Armenian Gregorian Church - Ed.] of all Armenians. In addition, Tsarist Russia backed Armenians with the policy of converting the ancestors of Albanians into the Armenian Gregorian Church. Some refused, and accepted Islam, thereby giving no peace to researchers who still come across some paradoxes, like the surname Melik Aslanov, which is ascribed to both Azeris and Armenians. Melik is a feudal range, something between a count, a marquise and a duke, and there were five Albanian Meliks [principalities]. All were abolished following the signing of the 1813 Gulustan Peace Treaty between the Russian Empire and Iran, which legalized the Russian annexation of Azeri lands north of the Araz River [except for the Nakhchivan and Iravan Khanates].

Those Albanians, who refused both the Armenian Gregorian Church and Islam, crossed the Kur River and joined their brethren who lived for centuries in Gabala's Nij village. Nij is currently the major center where the traditions of Utis are kept alive.

Josef Orbeli, an Armenian scientist of oriental studies, who was the director of Hermitage from 1934 to 1951, was impressed by some Albanian churches and monasteries, including Ktichavank and Ganzasar monasteries, the residence of Albanian Catholicoses [heads of the Albanian Church - Ed.] in 13 to 19th centuries.

Orbeli discovered several churches lost in woodland or among caves, and he identified them as Albanian churches, as he himself was also a specialist in Armenian churches.

He didn't reach the Kish church, which is on the land that stretches out from the other bank of the Kur River.

There are some interesting facts about history of the Kish church. One of them is an assumption that this place of worship served as a religious center before Christianity rose at the village. It is common that first temples were built in the places of old religious centers. As an evidence of this, one can show Kaaba, a black cubic stone in Mecca, the center of pilgrimage and holy city of all Muslims. Kaaba was built in the center of idolatry.

Till the last decade, it was supposed that Kish church was built in 78 AD by St. Elise. Moses Kalankatly also touched the issue of spreading of Christianity in Albania by St. Elise, in his book History of Albania. He wrote: "One of the favorite disciples of Jesus, Thaddeus went to East to spread Christianity. He was killed there and his disciple Elise who witnessed this execution decided to spread Christianity in the East as his teacher. Elise came to Iran from al-Guds [Jerusalem], and from Iran he ran to Maskuta [the land of Massaget tribes in Albania's northwest]. From Maskuta, Elise decided to go to Darband (an Azeri city in present-day Dagestan), from Darband to Surkhan (a settlement in Azerbaijan's Agdash region). He gathered disciples to help him to spread Christianity and came to Uti. One of his disciples was killed by his relatives and other two ones left Elise. He came to Gis and built a church there…"

Specialists, investigating history of (Caucasian) Albania, proved that the place that Moses Kalankatly mentioned as Gis is present-day Kish village in Sheki. This part of Albania was named Yeliseni by Georgian historians - a relation to St. Elise. But historians interpret Kalankatly's "…he came to Gis and built a church there" in the following way, precisely, that St. Elise created Christian community in Kish. It should be noted that the original of Kalankatly's book hasn't been found yet, and his work is available in Armenian only.

At the end of explorations at Kish, Storfjell also mentioned: "There were published so few materials about the Kish church. However, this region was also one of the crossroads of international trade in the earliest civilization."

The local population of Kish protected the church as they treat this place of worship as a sacred place. The elderly in Kish say that the church was used as a school in the beginning of the 20th century.

People also visited this place as a sanctuary. There is a strange feature in the church, with a special place inside.

A quaint old custom says that if a metal coin, paste to the wall, don't fall, then your dream will come true. For its mystic features the temple-church is regarded as one of the most holy places. The women who don't have a child, and curious people come here to find out weather their dreams and wishes would come true or not. In their opinion, the best way to figure this out is to paste a metal coin to the wall. The next day they visit the church to see what happened. A coin, still sticking out from the wall, means that the wish will come true.

Local people also believe that an oblong stone, standing 5 to 6 meters near the church, saves form sterility and is a cure for various diseases.

Today the museum-church is protected by Gumru and Ilhama Husseynovs. According to Firangiz Husseynova, the holy church has been protected by their kinsfolks for ages. "Years ago my grandmother had guarded this church, later my mother had cared, then I began to protect it. Now my daughter and daughter-in-law are doing their duties," she said.

In travelers' book, which is kept by Ilhama Husseynova, there are records by thousands of people of different nations, religions and races, who visited the Kish church.

The place still attracts crowds. Locals believe that the 'pilgrimage' is the result of the holiness, silence and sanctity inside the church, which is stiffening the spirit of people as it was many centuries ago.

In 2003, the Albanian church was registered as an independent organization by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and possesses a corresponding license.

Near the Kish village, where the church is located, there are also remnants of the ancient Gelesan-Goresan (Come and See) castle, a stronghold for the resistance of Sheki people to Nadir Shah Afshar, a ruler of Iran, who failed to siege the castle in 1743-1744 and agreed to the independence of Sheki from Iran.

The controversial picture - a church that calls to peace and a castle that is a sign of a bravery in battles - also reminds us of a round-up of old friends who know the whole truth about the Kish village and its inhabitants.