Samvel Karapetian (30 July 1961 – 27 February 2020) was an Armenian historian, researcher, author, and expert of medieval architecture, specializing in the study of the historical monuments of Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and other regions of the Southern Caucasus. 

He surveyed and catalogued thousands of artifacts of Armenian history and architecture during the course of more than two decades. Karapetyan was head of the Yerevan branch of the NGO Research on Armenian Architecture (RAA). Karapetyan was also known as an outspoken critic of the treatment of Armenian monuments in Turkey: he argued that Turkey has a policy of intentional neglect and planned destruction. He also presented evidence that accuses Georgia and Azerbaijan of deliberately destroying Armenian historical monuments. He presented his findings to US Congress in 2007 and to the European Court of Human Rights in 2008.

Karapetyan was an outspoken critic of the Armenian Apostolic Church and an advocate of the separation of church and state in Armenia.

In 2007 he won the Armenian Presidential Humanitarian Sciences Prize for his works, and in 2020 he was posthumously awarded by Movses Khorenatsi medal by the President of Armenia.