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

http://www.onehourtranslation.com/translation/blog/short-history-armenia

 

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.

http://asbarez.com/112574/anec-releases-%E2%80%98atlas-of-historical-armenia%E2%80%99/

 

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.

September/10/2013

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/diyarbakir-church-to-display-armenian-legacy.aspx?pageID=238&nID=54108&NewsCatID=375

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.

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

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/details/170397/

 

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

Vanessa Kachadurian, Ukrainian Museum of Natural History to have Armenian Exhibit

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