One of the best sites for exploring the ancient sites in Armenia is the Armenian Heritage site.
http://armenianheritage.org/en/
Temple of Garni
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Vanessa Kachadurian the Armenian Heritage Site
One of the best sites for exploring the ancient sites in Armenia is the Armenian Heritage site.
http://armenianheritage.org/en/
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Vanessa Kachadurian, a short history lesson on Armenian History
The Armenian history is filled with violence, domination by empires,
and a far-flung diaspora as a result of both, shaping the modern national and
international identity of its people.What makes millions of people share
certain traits or beliefs? History is what fleshes it out for us and makes it
clear. I’ve been reading a lot about the Armenian people recently, and the
revelations of their history have been very interesting – and educational. I
feel like I know my Armenian friends a little bit better – and also why I have
so many Armenian friends living so far from their homeland. The Silk Road
Armenians have lived in the area near modern-day Turkey, between the
Mediterranean and Caspian Seas, for thousands of years. They were ideally
placed, in fact, along the trade route between Europe and “the East” that
became known as the Silk Road due to both the wealth that travelled along its
route and one of the dominant products being hauled along it, and were very
prosperous and rich in their oldest history. Still, they were tribal and
disunited, as were most people in those days. The Armenian people were united
into a single nation just once prior to the modern age: In the very end of the
first century BCE, under the rule of King Tigran the Great. The unification did
not last long, and eventually the Armenian people fell under the shadows of
first the Byzantine Empire and later the Ottoman Empires. The Genocide The
Armenians did not fare well under the Ottoman Empire. As Christians in a Muslim
country, they were always treated as second-class citizens. While they enjoyed
certain protections, they were also frequently harassed and the victims of
prejudice and official oppression. In the early 20th century many Western
nations began to officially object to the treatment of the Armenian people. The
Ottoman Empire, by then very weak and disorganised, decided that this meant the
Western powers might intervene militarily, and their solution was to forcibly
evict the entire Armenian population. Millions were driven out of the country,
and many were killed in what is now known as the Armenian Genocide. This is why
the Armenian diaspora is so large – so many Armenians fled their homeland for
their lives during this period. Today Armenia is one of several post-Soviet
republics establishing itself as an independent nation for the first time in
thousands of years, with the enthusiastic support and affection of its
far-flung refugees. Its history of domination and violent oppression has had
the ironic effect of making the expatriate Armenians fiercely proud of their
heritage, guaranteeing that the Armenian way of life continues, no matter where
they have settled. - See more at: http://www.onehourtranslation.com/translation/blog/short-history-armenia#sthash.9kDanb6J.dpuf
Vanessa Kachadurian, Atlas on Armenian History Available
ANEC Releases ‘Atlas of Historical Armenia’
ANEC's Historical Atlas of Armenia
NEW YORK—The Armenian National
Education Committee (ANEC) recently announced its publication of the bilingual
(Armenian and English) Atlas of Historical Armenia, edited by Dr. Vartan
Matiossian, the executive director of the ANEC. The Atlas was published under
the auspices of His Eminence Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, Prelate of the
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America, on the 500th
anniversary of Armenian printing. The cost was underwritten through the
generous donation of the Hagopian family of Providence, RI, in memory of their parents,
Ervant and Serpouhi Hagopian.
While the book’s primary target
audience are students and teachers, the Atlas is equally valuable for the
general public. The basic premise is to offer readers an essential core that
may serve as a starting point to widen their knowledge. To this end, the new
edition has been rewritten and updated, with the addition of four new chapters.
It contains 32 chapters, 30 maps, and 174 photographs (148 in full color). The
maps are also provided on a CD attached to the book.
The Atlas combines three books in
one: a book of historical geography (maps), a book of history (text), and a
book of illustrated history (photographs). It is an educational tool that may
be used as a standard textbook of Armenian history—in Armenian and English—that
supersedes other textbooks currently in use.
The book is structured in four
sections. It opens with an overview of Armenian historical geography, followed
by a second section on Armenian cultural heritage. The main section of the book
is the third, which introduces compact chapters on Armenian history from its
origins to 1991. The final section, entitled “Armenians Today,” presents
chapters on the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Nagorno Karabagh
(Artsakh), and the Armenian Diaspora. An extensive chapter on the Armenian
Church is followed by an “Afterword” that succinctly explains the current
status of Armenians and Armenia.
As part of its series of
publications in Armenian studies, the ANEC released the first edition of the
Atlas, written by Dr. Garbis Armen and edited by Vrej-Armen Artinian, in 1987.
It remains the only bilingual atlas of Armenian history ever published.
(Whereas other atlases were published before and after, all of them were
monolingual). Incidentally, the Atlas was the first such publication in English
until Dr. Robert Hewsen’s Armenia: A Historical Atlas (2001), an erudite work
for a different audience.
The unprecedented historical
transformations that followed the initial publication of the Atlas, including
the independence of the Republics of Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh in 1991,
demanded a revision. After a long hiatus, work on the new edition resumed in
2010 and 25 years after the first edition, the ANEC can offer a new atlas for a
new generation.
Copies of the Atlas of Historical
Armenia are available from the Eastern Prelacy Bookstore, 138 E. 39th Street,
New York, NY 10016. For more information, call (212) 689-7810, or e-mail
books@armenianprelacy.org.
Vanessa Kachadurian, Armenian Church Surp Giragos to reopen as a museum of legacy
One of Diyarbakır’s most famous churches,
the Armenian church of Surp Giragos, is set to become a city museum hosting
artwork and artifacts depicting the Armenian history in the city.
Earlier, the Hürriyet Daily News reported that Diyarbakır Metropolitan Mayor Osman Baydemir and Surp Giragos Armenian Foundation President Ergün Ayık had signed a protocol to turn the church, which was recently restored and opened to prayer, into a museum.
According to the protocol, the church’s Hıdır İlyas section will be given to the municipality and converted into a museum featuring belongings and ethnographic artifacts.
Ayık said the church was the largest church in the Middle East but was in ruins until it was restored and reopened to worship three years ago.
Noting that the church was surrounded by many famous buildings and artifacts in the city, Ayık said, “The representatives are evaluating the buildings around the church.”
The Diyarbakır City Museum will display Armenian heritage and Armenian art. “We are currently meeting with the municipality and we have signed a protocol to open this part,” Ayık said.
“We will first collect artifacts before decorating the museum. The decorations and the curation will be made according to the artifacts,” said Ayık, noting that there would be information about the family, social and cultural life of Armenians.
Letters from Lice
Very few artifacts have survived over the past 100 years, but Ayık said they were able to collect letters from 1913 from a family who lived in the province’s Lice district, as well as kitchen appliances, musical instruments and other examples of writings from elsewhere.
During the last 100 years, many artifacts that belonged to Armenian families have been lost, he said. “We are currently collecting artifacts to display in the museum. This is the first time that something like this has happened in Turkey, and many people are approaching this with suspicion.”
The written documents are very valuable because they reflect the lifestyle of Armenians at the time, he said. “We have collected these documents from Turkey and also from foreign countries. We have succeeded in collecting these artifacts.”
Noting that there were also many financial documents, Ayık said these revealed the debts and the trade that Armenians had in history.
Artifacts in Istanbul
The artifacts that have been collected have been sent to Istanbul to be analyzed and researched.
Collecting the data and the artifacts has taken a long time, he said, adding that the job was an important task that only professionals could do.
After analyzing the works, the artifact will be sent to the museum for display.
Surp Giragos, which boasts seven altars, originally had an earthen roof, although a new roof of wood was subsequently erected over the restored church. It was closed in 1915-1916 before being returned to the local Armenian community in 1960.
A new bell that was made for the reopened church was made in Russia especially for the place of worship.
Earlier, the Hürriyet Daily News reported that Diyarbakır Metropolitan Mayor Osman Baydemir and Surp Giragos Armenian Foundation President Ergün Ayık had signed a protocol to turn the church, which was recently restored and opened to prayer, into a museum.
According to the protocol, the church’s Hıdır İlyas section will be given to the municipality and converted into a museum featuring belongings and ethnographic artifacts.
Ayık said the church was the largest church in the Middle East but was in ruins until it was restored and reopened to worship three years ago.
Noting that the church was surrounded by many famous buildings and artifacts in the city, Ayık said, “The representatives are evaluating the buildings around the church.”
The Diyarbakır City Museum will display Armenian heritage and Armenian art. “We are currently meeting with the municipality and we have signed a protocol to open this part,” Ayık said.
“We will first collect artifacts before decorating the museum. The decorations and the curation will be made according to the artifacts,” said Ayık, noting that there would be information about the family, social and cultural life of Armenians.
Letters from Lice
Very few artifacts have survived over the past 100 years, but Ayık said they were able to collect letters from 1913 from a family who lived in the province’s Lice district, as well as kitchen appliances, musical instruments and other examples of writings from elsewhere.
During the last 100 years, many artifacts that belonged to Armenian families have been lost, he said. “We are currently collecting artifacts to display in the museum. This is the first time that something like this has happened in Turkey, and many people are approaching this with suspicion.”
The written documents are very valuable because they reflect the lifestyle of Armenians at the time, he said. “We have collected these documents from Turkey and also from foreign countries. We have succeeded in collecting these artifacts.”
Noting that there were also many financial documents, Ayık said these revealed the debts and the trade that Armenians had in history.
Artifacts in Istanbul
The artifacts that have been collected have been sent to Istanbul to be analyzed and researched.
Collecting the data and the artifacts has taken a long time, he said, adding that the job was an important task that only professionals could do.
After analyzing the works, the artifact will be sent to the museum for display.
Surp Giragos, which boasts seven altars, originally had an earthen roof, although a new roof of wood was subsequently erected over the restored church. It was closed in 1915-1916 before being returned to the local Armenian community in 1960.
A new bell that was made for the reopened church was made in Russia especially for the place of worship.
September/10/2013
According to some art historians, Surp Giragos
Armenian Church in Diyarbakır is the largest in the Middle East. The complex
sprawls over 3,200 square meters and includes priests’ houses, chapels and a
school. AA photo
Vanessa Kachadurian Armenian History of coins
From the history of Armenian coins.
First Armenian coins
The
coins of kings of Sophene (Tsopk) dated to the second half of the 3rd century
BC are believed to the first Armenian coins.
The history of Armenian money is rich, diverse and interesting. Armenians are undoubtedly one of the nations with the ancient money history, as the territory of historical Armenia was in the vicinity of the birthplace of the first antique coins. Coinage, which is considered to be a major event in the development of society, started approximately at the end of the 8th or at the beginning of 7th century BC in Lydia, an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish provinces of Uşak, Manisa and inland Izmir.
The history of Armenian money is rich, diverse and interesting. Armenians are undoubtedly one of the nations with the ancient money history, as the territory of historical Armenia was in the vicinity of the birthplace of the first antique coins. Coinage, which is considered to be a major event in the development of society, started approximately at the end of the 8th or at the beginning of 7th century BC in Lydia, an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish provinces of Uşak, Manisa and inland Izmir.
September 24, 2013
PanARMENIAN.Net - The oldest coins found in the territory of Armenia date back to
6th-5th centuries BC. These are silver coins made in the Achaemenid Empire and
the Greek cities of Athens and Miletus.
In the middle of the 6th
century BC, Armenia fell under the rule of the Achaemenid Empire and its
territory was divided into eastern and western parts consisting of areas
governed by satraps, who got the right to coin at the end of the 5th century
BC.
Oront (in Armenian
sources mentioned as Yervant, 362-345 BC), the satrap of the eastern part of
Armenia, and Tiribaz (386-380 BC), who governed the western part, had coins
with their own images.
It’s noteworthy that
coins of Macedonian king Philip II (359-336 BC) and Alexander the Great were
discovered in the territory of Armenia, although there is not enough evidence
that the locals used money at that time, and, apparently, trade was conducted
through exchange. However, the discovery proves that the people knew about the
usage of coins.
The coins of kings of
Sophene (Tsopk) dated to the second half of the 3rd century BC are believed to
the first Armenian coins.
The coins of the
following Armenian kings are known: Sames (about 260 BC), Arsham I (about 240
BC), Arsham II (about 230 BC), Xerxes (about 220 BC), Abdidares (about 210 BC).
Description of coins First Armenian coins were copper coins,
with a very small number of them preserved. The coins of the period of Sophene
kings’ rule were minted in Hellenistic style. The obverse showed the image of
the ruler (profile of the king in a characteristic pointed headdress). The
reverse demonstrated various mythological images, for example a horseman
symbolizing the king, an eagle, or the name of the king in Greek letters.
The material was prepared in cooperation with Gevorg Mughalyan,
the numismatist of the Central Bank of Armenia.
Viktoria Araratyan / PanARMENIAN.Net, Varo
Rafayelyan / PanARMENIAN Photo
Monday, April 15, 2013
Vanessa Kachadurian, Armenian History to be taught in the Republic of Georgia schools
Armenian history will soon be included in the curriculum of Georgian schools.
During a visit to Yerevan on January 18, Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili made this promise to the head of the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Karekin II.
At their meeting on January 17, Karekin II reiterated his request that the Georgian Diocese transfer control of several historic Armenian churches to the Armenian Apostolic Church.
He expressed his hope that Georgian authorities would consider his request.
Ivanishvili did say he would personally oversee the maintenance of Armenian churches in Georgia.
The ethnic Armenian community in Georgia is mostly concentrated in Tbilisi and the southern Samtskhe-Javakheti Province, which borders Armenia.
Based on reporting by regnum.ru and news.am
http://www.rferl.org/content/armenian-history-to-be-taught-in-georgian-schools/24877063.html
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