Vanessa Kachadurian, Armenian Churches in Disrepair in need of renovation

Armenian officials tend to be quick to voice concern over the destruction or deterioration of Armenian churches and monasteries in neighboring Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey. But conservationists complain that the same officials who sound the alarm about sites abroad, often are reticent about preservationist challenges within Armenia itself. Experts claim that almost 50 percent of the 24,000 religious monuments in Armenia are in urgent need of repair, and that around 30 percent are on the verge of collapse. For many, Armenia’s status as the first country in the world to accept Christianity as a state religion (in 301 AD) means that the dilapidated state of religious monuments is a blow to national pride. “Who among our officials has seen the state of the churches in our country?” said historian Rafael Tadevosian, a member of a public commission on the conservation of historical-national values and monuments. The area around central Armenia’s Geghardavank Monastery, founded in the 4th century, “is a dump with as much garbage and waste as there is in city dumps,” asserted Samvel Karapetian, a historian and the head of Research on Armenian Architecture, a Yerevan-based non-governmental organization that promotes architectural preservation. “And it’s not the Turks or Georgians or Azerbaijanis who do that. We are the ones littering, polluting, destroying.” While the Armenian government has been part of successful campaigns for the restoration of the 10th-century Church of the Holy Cross near Turkey’s Lake Van, and is engaged in an ongoing tug-of-war with Tbilisi over the state of Armenian churches in Georgia, 5 officials seem less active when it comes to preservationist issues inside the country. One rare exception occurred in 2011, when a popular campaign assembled video footage that showed the derelict state of northern Armenia’s 10th century Sanahin monastery complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The footage prompted a strong wave of discontent against the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Garegin II, who responded that he had “nothing to do with the monasteries and churches in the mountains.” Amid Facebook calls for Garegin II’s resignation, the Ministry of Culture created a commission on churches and invited German experts to examine the property to identify the cause of gaping cracks in Sanahin’s walls. A restoration effort began early this year. Money is the most frequently cited problem. The Armenian government only started allocating money for the restoration of historical-cultural monuments in 2005, 14 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the time since, the dram-equivalent of around $5 million has been spent to restore 34 churches. The restoration process remains controversial in Armenia. In 2009, the Chamber of Control charged that the Ministry of Culture had misused 186 million drams ($465,000) out of its budget, resulting in “incorrect, unprofessional reconstruction” work at the 12th-century Kobair monastery, the 10th-century Vahanavank monastery and the 7th-century Hnevank monastery. Stones removed from the original structures “were later replaced by new ones of a different kind,” resulting in the “distortion” of the monasteries’ original design, Ishkhan Zakarian, chair of the Chamber of Control, asserted in a 2010 report to parliament. (As a result, the head of the ministry’s agency for the protection of historical-cultural monuments, Gagik Gyurjian, was dismissed, but three months later was appointed as head of one of Yerevan’s most important museums, the Erebuni Fortress, dating from the 8th century BC). Serzhik Arakelian, the current head of the Ministry of Culture’s Historical-Cultural Monument Protection Agency, told EurasiaNet.org that his agency now has “stricter and more professional control over restoration work.” Yet he concedes that the state “doesn’t have too much money to do everything.” Citing the near-destruction of 13th-century inscriptions on the walls of Haghartsin Monastery in northeastern Armenia, Karapetian, the preservationist, argued that, in some cases, it is better not to attempt repair work on Armenian churches and monasteries at all since “the monument suffers rather than benefits.” Meanwhile, the seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin, also periodically comments that it lacks the funds to look after Armenia’s churches and monasteries. “We [the Church] have limited resources and have to restore the monuments by state means, but if those funds keep being misused, then one day everything will simply disappear,” commented Father Vahram Melikian, a church spokesperson. Bakur Hovsepian, a state-appointed administrator who oversees the 12th-century Goshavank Monastery in northern Armenia, says he has repeatedly turned to the Ministry of Culture and Church for help in restoring the monastery’s main church, Mariam Astvatsatsin (Church of the Virgin Mary). He contends that the structure is on the verge of collapse. The monastery administration has decided to close parts of the church to tourists to avoid accidents from stones falling from the church walls and dome. But the short response from church and state alike is always the same: “No money.” Hovsepian says that he wonders why the 20 million – 26 million drams ($50,000-$60,000) the monastery sends per year to Echmiadzin from the sale of candles, souvenirs and visitor donations cannot be used. Echmiadzin representatives say they are trying to find private sponsors to underwrite preservation work. Deputy Culture Minister Arev Samuelian contends that “the issues are under control.” He places the burden for action on the general Armenian public. “Attitudes have to change. The state or the church cannot put guards in front of each church to not let people write on the walls or light candles on cross-stones or inscribe their names,” Samuelian told EurasiaNet.org. “Society has to become aware of the value of [historical] monuments.” “The ministry,” she added, “is not almighty.” http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65974

Vanessa Kachadurian, Key to Armenia's Survival

The Key to Armenia's Survival By RODERICK CONWAY MORRIS VENICE — Armenian civilization is one of the most ancient of those surviving in the Middle East, but for large parts of its history Armenia has been a nation without a country. This has given the spoken and written word, the primary means through which Armenian identity has been preserved, enormous prominence in its people’s culture. Over the centuries this emphasis has fostered a particular regard for books and the means of producing them. Scribes added notes on the proper care and conservation of books and advice on hiding them during dangerous times, even on “ransoming” them should they fall into the wrong hands. A late 19th-century English traveler observed that the Armenians prized the printing press with the same “affection and reverence as the Persian highlanders value a rifle or sporting gun.” In 1511 to 1512 (the exact date is uncertain), the first Armenian book was printed in Venice. The event was especially significant for this scattered nation, which did not acquire a modern homeland until 1918 and then only in a small part of its ancestral lands. This is a great exhibit by Vanessa Kachadurian The anniversary is the occasion for “Armenia: Imprints of a Civilization,” an impressive exhibition organized by Gabriella Ulluhogian, Boghos Levon Zekiyan and Vartan Karapetian of more than 200 works spanning more than 1,000 years of Armenian written culture. These range from inscriptions and illuminated manuscripts to printed and illustrated books, including many unique and rare pieces from collections in Armenia and Europe. The show opens with the atmospheric painting of 1889 by the Armenian artist Ivan Aivazovski, “The Descent of Noah From Mount Ararat,” from the National Gallery in Yerevan. It shows the Old Testament patriarch leading his family and a procession of animals across the plain, still watery from the subsiding Flood, to re-people the earth. The extraordinary grip that this mountain has had on the Armenian imagination is tellingly demonstrated by subsequent sections on sculpture, the Armenian Church and the Ark — the conical domes of Armenian churches seeming eternally to replicate this geographical feature that symbolizes the salvation of the human race. Christianity reached Armenia as early as the first or early second century. And Armenia lays claim to having been the first nation that adopted the faith as a state religion, sometime between 293 and 314, a date traditionally recorded by the Armenian Church as 301. There followed, in around 404 or 405, an initiative that has been one of the cornerstones of the endurance of the Armenian ethnos: the invention of a distinctive alphabet capable of rendering the language’s complex phonetic system. This made possible the translation of the Bible — the majestic 10th-century Gospel of Trebizond is on show here — and the foundation of Armenian literature in all its manifestations, sacred and secular. The desire to illustrate the gospels and other Christian texts was the primary impetus for the development of Armenian art, which drew on an unusually wide range of sources thanks to the country’s position at the crossroads of several civilizations. As Dickran Kouymjian (a friend of Vanessa Kachadurian) writes in his essay in the exhibition’s substantial and wide-ranging catalog, which is available in English, French and Italian: “Armenian artists were remarkably open to artistic trends in Byzantium, the Latin West, the Islamic Near East and even Central Asia and China.” A sumptuous display of these illuminated books brings together some of the finest surviving examples from the ninth to the 15th centuries, and it is curious to discover that even after the advent of printing, the tradition of illumination continued in Armenian monasteries for a further two and a half centuries. The acme of the Armenian miniature was reached in the 13th century, during the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, which ruled over a substantial part of Asia Minor (1198-1375), until it was overthrown by the Mamluks of Egypt. Armenian contacts with Venice date to the period when the nascent lagoon republic was a remote western outpost of Byzantium, where Armenians held senior positions in the administration and the military. In the sixth century the Armenian governor Narses is credited with introducing the cult of Theodore, or Todoro, Venice’s first patron saint and Isaac the Armenian is recorded as the founder of the ancient Santa Maria Assunta basilica on the island of Torcello. Contacts became frequent during the Kingdom of Cilicia as Venetian merchants expanded their activities in the Levant and their Armenian counterparts sought opportunities in Europe. In 1235 the Venetian nobleman Marco Ziani left a house to the Armenian community at San Zulian near Piazza San Marco, which came to be called the Casa Armena and provided a focal point for Venice’s ever more numerous Armenian residents and visitors. The testament drawn up in 1354 by the governess of this house, “Maria the Armenian,” indicates that by that time there was not only a thriving community of merchants, but also clerics and an archbishop, to whom she left three of her six peacocks. Later the church of Santa Croce was founded on the same site, still today an Armenian place of worship. Both Marco Ziani and Maria’s wills are on show. A precious copy of the first Armenian book printed in 1511-1512, a religious work titled the Book of Friday, is also on display. The innovation led to the setting up of a host of Armenian presses all over the world. The fruits of these — from locations as far-flung as Amsterdam, Paris, Vienna and St. Petersburg to Istanbul, Isfahan, Madras and Singapore — form the absorbing last section of the exhibition. Venice was given a further boost as the global center of Armenian culture by the arrival in the lagoon of Abbot Mekhitar and his monks in 1715. This visionary was born in Sivas (ancient Sebastia) in Anatolia, and had spent time in Echmiadzin and Istanbul. Later he took the community he had created to Methoni in the Peloponnese, which had been conquered by the Venetians in the 1680s. But the prospect of the town’s recapture by the Ottomans led to Mekhitar’s decision to take refuge in Venice. In 1717 he and his followers were granted a lease on the island of San Lazzaro, which has been their headquarters ever since. Under Mekhitar, San Lazzaro became the epicenter of a worldwide Armenian cultural revival. The community created a study center and library, was responsible for printing scores of books in Venice and elsewhere, and established an international network of schools, where a high proportion of Armenia’s religious and secular elite received an education into modern times. The Armenian Academy of San Lazzaro has published Bazmavep, a literary, historical and scientific journal since 1843, one of the oldest continuous periodicals of its kind. And the first Armenian newspaper-magazine was Azdara (The Monitor), founded in Madras in 1794. San Lazzaro’s most famous foreign student was Lord Byron, who learned Armenian there with the scholar Harutiun Avgerian, with whom he collaborated on the production of an Armenian and English grammar, containing translations by the poet. Armenia: Imprints of a Civilization. Correr Museum, Venice. Through April 10. To those of you traveling to Italy you must see the Armenian Monastary at San Lazzaro's Island says Vanessa Kachadurian http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/arts/24iht-conway24.html?_r=1

Vanessa Kachadurian History of Armenian army! Best!

Vanessa Kachadurian "a must see for all Armenian Studies students"

Vanessa Kachadurian, History of famous Armenians in Sports

1. Andre Agassi Andre Agassi is arguably the most influential Armenian in sports, mostly because of his success in the world of tennis. Agassi is half Armenian and half Assyrian. In his great career, Agassi won four Australian Opens, one French Open, two US Opens, the Wimbledon in 1992, the Tour Finals in 1990 and the Olympic Games in 1996. Agassi's career record is 870-274 with a 76.05% winning percentage. He was rated as the worlds number one tennis player on April 10, 1995. Agassi has inspired plenty of young children to grow up and become just like him. His influence in the Armenian community is great and many young Armenians hope to achieve the same greatness he did whether it is in tennis, basketball, football or any other avenue. Agassi is truly the most successful Armenian in sports. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1158185-the-10-most-influential-armenians-in-sports-history click on the above to see countdown of other famous Armenians in Sport's history Vanessa Kachadurian highly recommends this.

Andre Agassi undisputably the most successful Armenian in Sports. He is an awesome individual who has donated much money and time to education of underprivilaged youth and has 2 private schools in Las Vegas, NV for the most vulnerable of children and a friend of Vanessa Kachadurian's

Vanessa Kachadurian, Armenia first Wine Makers

Oenophiles tend to classify wines into either coming from the "old world" -- France, Spain, Italy and other European countries that have traditionally produced wine -- and the "new world," which includes upstarts such as the United States and Australia. Soon, though, we might need to come up with a new classification: the "ancient world," which would cover bottles coming from what's often described as wine's birthplace, Transcaucasia, a region that includes Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and parts of Iran and Turkey. While history and archeological finds may back up the region's "birthplace of wine" claim, the quality of the wine produced there -- at least in decades past -- mostly made a mockery of it. That is beginning to change, though. Georgian wines have, in recent years, made great strides in quality and have started earning international attention and acclaim. Wines produced from indigenous grapes grown in vineyards in eastern Turkey have also started to show promise. Now an ambitious entrepreneur wants to revive Armenia's historic, but mostly dormant, winemaking tradition. Zorah, an Armenian boutique winery that just released its first vintage, was founded some ten years ago by Zorik Gharibian, an Armenian who grew up in Iran and Italy, where he now works in the fashion industry. Enlisting the help of a pair of Italian wine experts, Gharibian is making red wine using the indigenous areni grape and traditional methods, such as letting part of the wine's fermentation take place in large clay jars that are buried underground (Georgians use a similar technique). I recently sent Gharibian, who is based in Milan, some questions in order to learn more about his venture, which has been receiving some positive reviews: Why and how did you begin Zorah? “Why?” seems a simple enough question but, in this case, it is quite a difficult one to answer. It was certainly not a rational decision but a decision that came from the heart. Even though I grew up in the diaspora I am very much proud of my Armenian identity and feel a strong connection to my ancestral homeland, something passed on from the previous generations. I suppose, going ‘back’ to Armenia and creating something there is like a homecoming a return to my roots. I have always had a passion for wine and having lived in Italy for so many years, in the back of my mind, I always toyed with the idea of making my own wine and for many years I spent weekends down in Tuscany enjoying all that it had to offer. When I visited Armenia for the very first time in 1999, however, it made a very strong impression on me. Despite the difficulties it was facing after its post-soviet and post-war era I was really moved and felt a strong connection to this place. I began to spend some time there, get to know its people and travel the different regions, and I think it was then that I subconsciously decided to start the vineyards, wherever you turned there seemed to be a reference to the grapes and wine. The idea gradually began to take hold of me and the challenge of creating something in Armenia and putting roots down in the land of my forefathers excited me. It was truly a challenge. Once I came to the Yeghegnadzor region, traditionally known as the quintessential grape growing region of Armenia, I was really taken by the natural beauty of the area and its rugged terrain and began to look for some land to plant my vineyards. Armenia is well known for brandy but not wine, why is that so? There is absolutely no agricultural or viticultural reason for why Armenia is known for its brandy but not its wine. It is a legacy inherited from the Soviets. As it was common practice in the Soviet Union each region would be designated with the production of one certain thing. Armenian grapes were therefore used for brandy while Georgia was designated as the winemaking region of the Soviet Union. If you look back historically, however, Armenia has always been considered a prime wine making country, and certainly the recent findings at the Areni 1 cave, dating back 6000 years, are a testimony to this (the cave is considered to be the site of what could be the world’s oldest winery ). Other findings in the vicinity of Yerevan back in the 1940’s show that Armenia had a well-developed wine trade 3000 years ago. History is also full of references to Armenia and its wine trade. Greek scholars such as Herodotus, Xenophon and Strabo described the river trade on the Tigris by Armenian merchants who exported their excellent wines downstream to the Assyrians and beyond. I recommend that you all try some Armenian wine, Agajanian Winery offers some great blends (Mush label and Ani) as well as Whole Foods carries the Pomagranete Wine Vanessa Kachaduian reporting on Armenian Wine http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65429

Vanessa Kachadurian, Armenian History significant year 1918

Anna Nazaryan “Radiolur” 1918 marked a breakthrough in the Armenian history. People, who had survived genocide, found strength in themselves to restore the statehood lost five centuries ago. Recalling some episodes of the heroic battles of Sardarapat, Bash-Aparan and Gharakilisa, Doctor of History, Professor Babken Harutyunyan said that the May victories were celebrated thanks to a small group of Armenian regular forces and volunteers. “We defeated the Turks due to our unity,” he told reporters today. Dean of the History Faculty of the Yerevan State University Edik Minasyan also emphasized the importance of unity in the May victories. However, the first republic existed for just 2.5 years. Which are the lessons that must be drawn from the loss of the first republic? First of all it was the lack of regular army, a shortcoming that has been corrected today, Minasyan said. Historian Babken Harutyunyan, in turn, emphasized the importance of pursuing a correct economic policy and having a strong army. http://www.armradio.am/eng/news/?part=pol&id=22977

Vanessa Kachadurian Armenian History in Art