Special Investigations & StoryMaps
CHW uses StoryMaps to tell the stories of the sites we monitor in a way that is more in-depth than social media allows and more accessible than our regular monitoring reports. Special Investigations are our major forensic research projects drawing on satellite imagery archives to document episodes of heritage destruction.
Special Investigations
Silent Erasure
A Satellite Investigation of the Destruction of Armenian Cultural Heritage in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan
September 2022
Khatchadourian, Smith, Ghulyan & Lindsay
Between the Wars
A Satellite Investigation of the Treatment of Azerbaijani Cultural Heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh, 1994–2020
April 2023
Ghulyan, Khatchadourian, Smith & Lindsay
Monitoring StoryMaps
While each site we monitor has a unique and valuable story to tell, these StoryMaps tell distinctive stories of heritage pushed onto the front lines of conflict.
St. John the Baptist Church, Shusha
Advances in heritage forensics pinpoint when Azerbaijan moved from denying to destroying an Armenian church.
March 31, 2026
The “Red Cross” Church of Bina/Tumi
Did illicit excavations in Khojavend damage an Armenian church? Low resolution imagery gives us a date of impact.
December 16, 2025
‘Wreckage’ in Kalbajar
Azerbaijan destroyed the ruins of two Soviet-era schools, and with them the traces of a medieval Armenian past embedded in their walls.
June 13, 2024
St. Sargis of Mokhrenes
An Armenian church in Azerbaijan was destroyed, violating an ICJ ruling. New activity raises questions about how the state is responding.
November 8, 2023