Within the walls, Famagusta is the small church of the Holy Virgin once part of the Armenian mona... more Within the walls, Famagusta is the small church of the Holy Virgin once part of the Armenian monastery of Kanch‘owor (crying out), thus Lady of Sorrow. Structurally, the church is sound, having undergone renovations in the 1930s and 1940s while still in Armenian hands, and again in the past decade. It was seized by Turkish Cypriots after the events of 1963–1965. In 1974, just prior to the Turkish invasion of the island, the building was being used as a residence by a poor family.
Within the walls, Famagusta is the small church of the Holy Virgin once part of the Armenian mona... more Within the walls, Famagusta is the small church of the Holy Virgin once part of the Armenian monastery of Kanch‘owor (crying out), thus Lady of Sorrow. Structurally, the church is sound, having undergone renovations in the 1930s and 1940s while still in Armenian hands, and again in the past decade. It was seized by Turkish Cypriots after the events of 1963–1965. In 1974, just prior to the Turkish invasion of the island, the building was being used as a residence by a poor family.
Examples of Islamic metalwork, particularly Safavid period items, are known with Armenian inscrip... more Examples of Islamic metalwork, particularly Safavid period items, are known with Armenian inscriptions. There has never been a corpus of them established, but those in the large collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum have been published. There are six such items, with Armenian inscriptions of the seventeenth century, the majority from Ispahan-New Julfa. At least two others have been published, one from the Musée des arts décoratifs on loan to the Louvre with an Armenian inscription of 1628, and another in a private collection in England with an inscription of 1614.
Cultural exchange is a constant process governed by no fixed rules, working independently of the ... more Cultural exchange is a constant process governed by no fixed rules, working independently of the will of the societies involved. It is difficult to grasp all the give and take between distant or even neighboring traditions because of the vastness of the process and the complications associated with human interactions on an international scale. Yet, cultural interaction is a, perhaps the, essential component of world civilization. Scholarship continues, nevertheless, to isolate and examine discrete moments of exchange between cultural zones. In this essay I propose to re-examine a number of instances of such contacts between traditions. In the three examples which follow, I would like to reflect on the broader implications of recent research on medieval Armenian history and art, particularly about the interaction of cultures, the integration of new external elements into a tradition, the use of scholarship developed in one domain in that of another.
Dickran Kouymjian, "Filmmaking in the Armenian Diaspora of America," The material in
this essay w... more Dickran Kouymjian, "Filmmaking in the Armenian Diaspora of America," The material in this essay was taken from two earlier articles: Dickran Kouymjian, "Le Cinéma arménien aux Etats-Unis," Armenia, Paris, June (1984), pp. 44-48, and D. Kouymjian, "Les Arméniens et le cinéma américan," Le Cinéma Arménien, Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, 1993, pp. 104-122.
The study considers several major themes: I. The making of the quires (by cutting and/or folding)... more The study considers several major themes: I. The making of the quires (by cutting and/or folding); II. The structure of the quires; III. Preparation of the page: pricking and ruling; IV. The codex as a 'complex' object.
The historical overview treats work done by scholars on a country-by-country basis in Europe. I d... more The historical overview treats work done by scholars on a country-by-country basis in Europe. I do not believe it has been published. It was presented at a workshop on the "State of Armenian Studies" organized in 2011, in the pages below I have prepared what can only be called a summary update to an earlier article done some forty years ago. Such a resume of four decades of research and development in Armenian studies in Europe necessarily will suffer from two major defects: the omission, by force of circumstance and tricks of memory, of many scholars, institutions, and support groups in this domain, and, the near-tabular form of the presentation. Furthermore, the achievements and publications of the scholars and institutions mention must be omitted for the most part, except in cases were important research tools were created. Furthermore, unlike my remarks in presentations and publications on the subject of 1981, 1 1995, 2 and 2002 3 in which analytical discussions were engaged on the past and the future of the discipline, its purpose and direction, and its future needs, this report is essentially factual. I have also concentrate on linguistics, philology, history, art history and early literature, while contemporary or even twentieth century matters, including the genocide, have not been emphasized even though in recent decades such studies have been aggressively engaged by younger scholars.
A short history of the Haig Berberian Chair of Armenian Studies, the first devoted to Armenian St... more A short history of the Haig Berberian Chair of Armenian Studies, the first devoted to Armenian Studies among the 22 campuses that make up California State University in 1980s thanks to the initial generosity of Arnold and Dianne Gazarian honoring Dianne’s father.
Dickran Kouymjian, ՍԱՐՈՅԱՆԸ ԵՎ ԱՄԵՐԻԿԱՀԱՅ ԳՐՈՂՆԵՐԸ “William Saroyan and Armenian–American Writers... more Dickran Kouymjian, ՍԱՐՈՅԱՆԸ ԵՎ ԱՄԵՐԻԿԱՀԱՅ ԳՐՈՂՆԵՐԸ “William Saroyan and Armenian–American Writers,” (in Armenian) a public lecture presented at the Maison Arménienne of the Cité Universitaire, Paris, 3 April 2012 as reported in Azg Newspaper of Erevan, 5 June 2012.
The volume is the main achievement of the
Research Networking Programme ‘Comparative
Oriental Man... more The volume is the main achievement of the Research Networking Programme ‘Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies’, funded by the European Science Foundation in the years 2009–2014. It is the first attempt to introduce a wide audience to the entirety of the manuscript cultures of the Mediterranean East. The chapters reflect the state of the art in such fields as codicology, palaeography, textual criticism and text editing, cataloguing, and manuscript conservation as applied to a wide array of language traditions including Arabic, Armenian, Avestan, Caucasian Albanian, Christian Palestinian Aramaic, Coptic, Ethiopic, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Persian, Slavonic, Syriac, and Turkish. Seventy-seven scholars from twenty-one countries joined their efforts to produce the handbook. The resulting reference work can be recommended both to scholars and students of classical and oriental studies and to all those involved in manuscript research, digital humanities, and preservation of cultural heritage. The volume includes maps, illustrations, indexes, and an extensive bibliography
The Armenian translation of the original English version published by the Aarhus University Press... more The Armenian translation of the original English version published by the Aarhus University Press to make the folio volume more accessible to scholars in Armenia, where largest group among the 200 manuscripts studied are located.
Dickran Kouymjian, Index of Armenian Art (IAA), fascicle I. Armenian Manuscript Illumination to t... more Dickran Kouymjian, Index of Armenian Art (IAA), fascicle I. Armenian Manuscript Illumination to the Year 1000 A.D. (Fresno-Paris, 1977).
The book brings together the first international conference held in the diaspora on the Armenian ... more The book brings together the first international conference held in the diaspora on the Armenian epic Sasna tsrer or David of Sasun held at California State University, Fresno in 1978. Though more that 35 years have elapsed, the papers presented by the world's foremost authorities from Europe, Canada, the United States, and Armenia are as fresh and timely as they were when given. Many of the new ideas on epic literature present then have to some extent been taken up in more recent publications. There is a complete synopsis of the official synthetic version compiled from the more than 100 variants by scholars in Armenian in 1939, who arbitrarily decided that year to be the 1000th anniversary of this remarkable epic that remained exclusively oral until the first transcription of a variant in 1873. In addition, there is the first and only version of the epic recorded in the diaspora in both Armenian and in translation and a complete critical bibliography on the epic, a complete index, and an elaborate discussion of the contents of the oral variants versus the official composed canonized version.
Among the papers left in the house in San Francisco that William Saroyan (1908-1981) built for hi... more Among the papers left in the house in San Francisco that William Saroyan (1908-1981) built for his mother and sister after his first successes on Broadway in 1939-1940 was a totally unknown first novel, written in 1929 upon return from his first great travel experience, a failed pilgrimage to New York City. He arrived in Manhattan by bus from San Francisco on his twentieth birthday, 31 August 1928, determined to make a breakthrough as a young writer. He titled the work Follow and until its discover less than a decade ago, it was assumed he had not ventured into writing novels until after his early success in the short story (ten collected volume from 1934 to 1941) and the theater, starting in 1938. The work dates five years before his story “The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze,” which launched his literary career with great fanfare and became the title of his first book, The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze and other Stories (1934). Follow, a thinly veiled autobiographical account of his first attempt to break away from home, was serialize in the Fresno Bee in 2008 during the centenary of his birth. It was then recommended to the Press at California State University, Fresno, by Dickran Kouymjian, who divided the manuscript into two parts and wrote a long Introduction-Foreward contextualizing the work within Saroyan’s very prolific writing career. William B. Secrest, Jr. edited the final volume and added to it five unpublished early stories from the dark New York experience he found in Saroyan’s archives at Stanford University. Included in this excerpt from the book are its covers, the title pages, and the detailed Foreward.
Michael Stone, Dickran Kouymjian, Henning Lehmann, Album of Armenian Paleography, with Michael St... more Michael Stone, Dickran Kouymjian, Henning Lehmann, Album of Armenian Paleography, with Michael Stone and Henning Lehmann, sponsored by the Armenian Academy of Sciences (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2002), in-folio, 556 pages, 220 color plates; Armenian translation by Aram Topchyan and Gohar Muradyan, Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin (Yerevan: Tigran Medzn Press, 2006).
The Acts of the International Conference on the History of the Armenians “father” of Armenian his... more The Acts of the International Conference on the History of the Armenians “father” of Armenian history, Movsés Khoren or Khorenats‘i. The conference was organized by Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (INALCO) of the University of Paris and the Centre de recherches sur la diaspora arménienne (CRDA). The texts of ten papers by the foremost specialists of the History are presented.
After William Saroyan’s death, the editor of this volume fulfilled a promised he had made to Saro... more After William Saroyan’s death, the editor of this volume fulfilled a promised he had made to Saroyan to bring together three as yet unpublished plays, written at different moments in the 1970s, on subjects directly relating to the Armenians. Among the 66 plays published during Saroyan’s lifetime, only the first, My Heart’s in the Highlands (1938), can be said to have Armenian characters, though it was not about Armenians. Saroyan gave unpublished typescripts of these plays to Prof. Kouymjian for study with students in his Saroyan theater classes at California State University, Fresno. An elaborate Introduction to this constructed Trilogy explains the meaning of each of the plays, the method of its composition, and the time and circumstances of its writing. In two of the plays, William Saroyan appears as the character William Saroyan. The entire Introduction will be mounted under “Papers” after certain logistic problems are solved.
The volume represents a collection of 19 essays in honor of a pioneer numismatist, Fr. Clement Si... more The volume represents a collection of 19 essays in honor of a pioneer numismatist, Fr. Clement Sibilian of the Mekhitarist Congregation in Vienna, on the centennial of his death (1824-1878). A biography and bibliography of his major studies are included.
The book has not been digitized yet, but the brochure prepared in 1973 has been added with the co... more The book has not been digitized yet, but the brochure prepared in 1973 has been added with the complete table of contents. From the 1973 brochure: Dr. George C. Miles, Curator of Islamic Coins of the American Numismatic Society and its former Chief Curator and Executive Director, has during the past thirty-five years revolutionized the study of Islamic numismatics. On the occasion of his retirement from the ANS and his seventieth birthday, friends, colleagues, and former students have joined in assembling a volume of essays in those areas which have, and still continue, to dominate his scholarly activity: numismatics, epigraphy, iconography, and history, of the Islamic, pre-Islamic, and Byzantine worlds. Forty-five scholars from fourteen countries have contributed studies to this important work of nearly 500 pages in large format and over 200 plates and illustrations.
A chronological series of corpora of the coins of the Ildegizids, Maliks of Darband/Derbent, Mal... more A chronological series of corpora of the coins of the Ildegizids, Maliks of Darband/Derbent, Maliks of Ahar, Shirvanshahs, and some local Seljukids based on the major museum collections in the U.S., France, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey with an historical analysis of the numismatic history of those lands in the medieval period.
The Index of Armenian Art is still a work in progress. The first fascicle or issue covered a spec... more The Index of Armenian Art is still a work in progress. The first fascicle or issue covered a specific period with limited and identifiable illustrated Armenian codices. It was to serve as a model for progression century by century in order to present a comprehensive view of Armenian manuscript art. The information is as complete as possible with the resources available forty years ago. The bibliography and iconography need updating, but the information preserved is still useful in understanding the beginnings of Armenian manuscript art. Links to the online version are available on this academia.edu site: https://www.academia.edu/9626300/Index_of_Armenian_Art_IAA_Miniature_Painting.
The checklist provides in tabular form the major illustrated Armenian manuscripts of the eleventh... more The checklist provides in tabular form the major illustrated Armenian manuscripts of the eleventh century, a continuation of the Index of Armenian Fascicle I, which cover all Armenian illustrated manuscripts up to the year 1000.
On February 20, 1956, His Grace Bishop Zareh Payaslian, Prelate of the Diocese of Aleppo, was ele... more On February 20, 1956, His Grace Bishop Zareh Payaslian, Prelate of the Diocese of Aleppo, was elected Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia at Antelias, Lebanon. The election was contested and declared illegal by a minority of the Electoral Asseably, who, supported by a group of the Cilician Religious Brotherhood and a sizeable group of the Armenian faithful under the jurisdiction of the Cilician See, refused to recognise His Holiness Zareh I as the duly elected Catholicos. Further, the affair was complicated and brought out of its local context, effecting a crisis within the whole Armenian Church, by the Catholicos of Etchmiadzin who refused to accept the election of His Holiness Zareh I. It must be pointed out at the beginning that the disagreement does not concern religious matters; there is no doctrinal divergence nor the prospect of one in the future.
The publication is the result of study and restoration of 77 metal bindings on as many manuscript... more The publication is the result of study and restoration of 77 metal bindings on as many manuscripts in the most important collection of Armenian codices, held in the Matenadaran, the Institute for the preservation and study of the world’s largest collection of handwritten Armenian books in Erevan, Armenia. Most are silver, sometimes just crosses or other decorative motifs attached to the original leather binding.The publication is the result of study and restoration of 77 metal bindings on as many manuscripts in the most important collection of Armenian codices, held in the Matenadaran, the Institute for the preservation and study of the world’s largest collection of handwritten Armenian books in Erevan, Armenia. Most are silver, sometimes just crosses or other decorative motifs attached to the original leather binding.
A review by Deborrah Thompson in the Art Bulletin of the Festschrift in honor of George C. Miles,... more A review by Deborrah Thompson in the Art Bulletin of the Festschrift in honor of George C. Miles, numismatist and Orientalist.
The very large and handsome volume is entirely devoted to the collection that Alex
and Marie Mano... more The very large and handsome volume is entirely devoted to the collection that Alex and Marie Manoogian sponsored and aggressively assembled with the help of Bishop Paren Avedikian, then a vardapet and the officiating priest at the adjoining St. John Armenian Church, an edifice also patronized by Alex and Marie Manoogian. The Museum was opened to the public in 1992, though the collection was already well formed.
A broad and extremely well illustrated survey of Ottoman silver stamps, especially useful for the... more A broad and extremely well illustrated survey of Ottoman silver stamps, especially useful for the eighteenth and nineteenth century to identify individual Armenian and Greek jewelers and silver smiths. The stamps themselves are in Ottoman, Greek, and Armenian. There are also documents from the Ottoman archives reproduced of the members of the various precious metal guilds.
Until the publication of Professor Coulie’s Répertoire no separate collection of Armenian manuscr... more Until the publication of Professor Coulie’s Répertoire no separate collection of Armenian manuscript catalogues has been available equivalent to Marcel Richard’s Répertoire des bibliothèques et des catalogues de manuscrits grecs of 1948. Thanks to this new gathering, we can speak with assurance of 30,000 or more surviving Armenian manuscripts, whereas just a decade ago 25,000 was the educated guess.
A detailed analysis of the final volume of this monumental survey of the medieval architecture of... more A detailed analysis of the final volume of this monumental survey of the medieval architecture of Asia Minor, including Christian as well as Islamic structures.
Frédéric Feydit’s volume is still the most thorough analysis of Armenian prophylactic scrolls, hm... more Frédéric Feydit’s volume is still the most thorough analysis of Armenian prophylactic scrolls, hmayils.
Analysis of the first line-by-line English translation of the synthetic 1939 version by the Armen... more Analysis of the first line-by-line English translation of the synthetic 1939 version by the Armenian Academy of the Armenian national epic David of Sassoun (Sasunts‘i Davit).
Paper presented at the 20th Annual Byzantine Studies Conference, University of Michigan, Ann Arbo... more Paper presented at the 20th Annual Byzantine Studies Conference, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, October 1994. The paleography allows a dating as early as the late fifth century.
Lecture organized as part of the Kum Kapi: Travelling Carpets exhibition and the Summer Garden ce... more Lecture organized as part of the Kum Kapi: Travelling Carpets exhibition and the Summer Garden celebrations. With the support of the Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
Textiles offer a rich opportunity to explore the projection of identity, both within and between ... more Textiles offer a rich opportunity to explore the projection of identity, both within and between social and cultural groups. A pertinent arena for such an exploration is the intercultural region of the Mediterranean. This workshop will bring together a group of junior and senior scholars to investigate and elucidate the role of textiles in the cultures of the Medieval and early Modern Mediterranean, and its periphery, with a focus on specific case studies. Our investigation will analyze textiles as tools for projecting identity within specific contexts, whether cross-cultural or not. Institutionalized practices of textile use and reuse, written and unwritten rules governing ceremonial use, the departure from standard practices, the active reception of imports and their interpretation will form the major topics examined by the participating scholars. Our directed investigation will seek to identity parallels and points of contact between the use of textiles in various political entities, and among social groups and cultures.
An intensive one-week workshop on the Armenian manuscript for a group of 25 curators, conservator... more An intensive one-week workshop on the Armenian manuscript for a group of 25 curators, conservators, specialists, and doctoral students, held in the National Library of Berlin and organized by Dr. Meliné Pehlivanian, Deputy Director of the Oriental Manuscript Department, and Dr. Armenuhi Drost Abgarian, Martin-Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, and led by Prof. Dickran Kouymjian, CSU Fresno, emeritus, and Paris, with several hands-on sessions using the Armenian manuscripts of the Berlin Collection.
Keynote address, Berlin, 14 March 2016, for the workshop
Scriptorium: Armenian Manuscript Studie... more Keynote address, Berlin, 14 March 2016, for the workshop Scriptorium: Armenian Manuscript Studies at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin [Illustration are omitted.]
To provide a general notion of Armenian manuscripts, an historical summary of the development of Armenian writing and the production of handwritten books is in order. A century after Armenia was converted to Christianity the native language did not have its own writing system, this was the major incentive to the invention of the Armenian alphabet by the monk Mesrop in the first years of the fifth century with its original thirty-six letter later expanded to thirty-eight.
The mid-fifteenth century innovation of making books in multiple copies with movable type, the Gu... more The mid-fifteenth century innovation of making books in multiple copies with movable type, the Gutenberg revolution, introduced a radically new technology. Though the mechanical aspect of book production experienced a revolution, it did not change the physical aspect of the object. A book looked the same and was read in the same way before and after Gutenberg; there was no way to distinguish a manuscript from a printed text unless you opened it.
The inaugural conference of the newly created Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies (COMSt), he... more The inaugural conference of the newly created Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies (COMSt), held at the Hamburg University, was intended to introduce the state of the art of manuscript studies in each of the ten language areas, including Armenian and Georgian, to be treated during the five year grant established by the European Science Foundation. The work culminated in 2015 with the publication of the vast COMSt Handbook of Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies, available online for consultation and free download.
Resume of a public lecture given at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal on Wedne... more Resume of a public lecture given at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal on Wednesday, 29 June 2016.
Textiles & Identity in the Medieval and Εarly Modern Mediterranean: paradigms of contexts and cro... more Textiles & Identity in the Medieval and Εarly Modern Mediterranean: paradigms of contexts and cross-cultural exchanges
Textiles offer a rich opportunity to explore the projection of identity, both within and between social and cultural groups. A pertinent arena for such an exploration is the intercultural region of the Mediterranean. This workshop will bring together a group of junior and senior scholars to investigate and elucidate the role of textiles in the cultures of the Medieval and early Modern Mediterranean, and its periphery, with a focus on specific case studies. Our investigation will analyze textiles as tools for projecting identity within specific contexts, whether cross-cultural or not. Institutionalized practices of textile use and reuse, written and unwritten rules governing ceremonial use, the departure from standard practices, the active reception of imports and their interpretation will form the major topics examined by the participating scholars. Our directed investigation will seek to identity parallels and points of contact between the use of textiles in various political entities, and among social groups and cultures.
Program 3 June 2016 Venue: Museum of Islamic Art, 22 Ag. Asomaton & 12 Dipylou St., Athens
Welcoming remarks 9:30 John Bennet, British School at Athens 9:40 Mina Moraitou, Benaki Museum
Opening remarks 9:50 Nikolaos Vryzidis, British School at Athens
1. Medieval Islamic textiles in the Eastern Mediterranean 10:00 Alison Ohta, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland: Chair 10:10 Scott Redford, SOAS-University of London: ‘Seljuk silks, standards and emblems’ 10:30 Marielle Martiniani-Reber, Musées d’Art et d’Histoire de Genève: ‘The relationship between Islamic and Byzantine textiles during the Middle Byzantine period’ 10: 50 Maria Sardi, SOAS-University of London: ‘Towards a standardization of Mamluk aesthetic: influences and identity as reflected on textiles’ 11:10 Discussion
11:30 Coffee break
2. Western Mediterranean cross-cultural encounters 11:40 Mina Moraitou, Benaki Museum: Chair 11: 50 Ana Cabrera, Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas & Laura Rodríguez Peinado, Universidad Complutense de Madrid: ‘Medieval Textiles from the Iberian Peninsula: state of the art and new approaches of study’ 12:20 Vera-Simone Schulz, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz: ‘Entangled Identities: Textiles and the Art and Architecture of the Italian Peninsula in a Mediterranean Perspective’ 12:40 Discussion
13:00 Lunch break
3. The multi-cultural Ottoman Empire 14:00 Helen Philon, Independent scholar: Chair 14:10 Anna Ballian, Benaki Museum (Emerita): ‘Chios silks’ 14:30 Amanda Philips, University of Virginia: ‘Interventions in technology and fashion: the case of Ottoman compound weaves’ 14:50 Elena Papastavrou, Hellenic Ministry of Culture & Sports: ‘Greek-Orthodox cultural identity as reflected on Constantinopolitan Church Embroidery’ 15:10 Discussion
15:30 Coffee break
4. Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Christian textiles 15:40 Warren Woodfin, City University of New York: Chair 15:50 Dickran Kouymjian, California State University-Fresno (Emeritus): ‘Armenian Altar Curtains: Repository of Tradition and Innovation’ 16:10 Nikolaos Vryzidis, British School at Athens: ‘Animal motifs on Asian silks used by the Greek Church: an afterlife of Byzantine iconography?’ 16: 30 Jacopo Gnisci, Independent scholar: ‘Towards a History of Ecclesiastical Dress in Early Solomonic Ethiopia’ 16:50 Discussion
General discussion and concluding remarks 17:10 Nikolaos Vryzidis, British School at Athens
End
4 June 2016
Study day (attendance by invitation only)
10:00-13:00 Handling session (Benaki Museum Peiraios annex), hosted by Mina Moraitou 15:00 Museum visit (Benaki Museum main building), hosted by Anastasia Drandaki End
The Preface to a festschrift for the founder and editor of the Revue des études arméniennes, new ... more The Preface to a festschrift for the founder and editor of the Revue des études arméniennes, new series (1966- ), Haig Berbérian (1887-1978), contains some fifty articles by his colleagues and admirers.
The Festschrift is a collection of 47 essays on subjects related to Prof. Kouymjian’s interest ov... more The Festschrift is a collection of 47 essays on subjects related to Prof. Kouymjian’s interest over the years written by colleagues, friends, and students. Included in the selection that follows are the front cover, the titlepage, acknowledgements, Table of Contents, Preface, the editor’s Introduction, Bibliography of the honoree’s works, Tabula Gratulatoria, and back cover.
An illustrated brochure describing the history and content of the IAA, especially the section dev... more An illustrated brochure describing the history and content of the IAA, especially the section devoted to Armenian manuscript illumination. the presentation is on the Index before it was digitized. It is informational.
A relational database devoted primarily in this first phase to all illuminated Armenian manuscrip... more A relational database devoted primarily in this first phase to all illuminated Armenian manuscript to the year 1100.
The participants will be introduced to the study of different codicological and paleographical as... more The participants will be introduced to the study of different codicological and paleographical aspects of Armenian manuscripts, including an overview on the history, collections and catalogues of Armenian manuscripts, bindings, genres, mise-en-texte, mise-en-page, inks, illuminations, miniature-painting, colophons, scripts, periodization, provenance etc. The theoretical part will be supplemented by hands-on sessions, in which the participants will have the opportunity themselves to observe the features discussed in Armenian manuscripts kept at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. The workshop will be conducted by: Prof. Dr. Dickran Kouymjian (California State University, Fresno, Berberian Chair of Armenian Studies, Emeritus). Other speakers: Prof. Dr. Armenuhi Drost-Abgaryan, Dr. Ira Rabin et al.
Keynote Lecture: 14 March 2016 (Prof. Dr. Dickran Kouymjian).
The workshop is intended for advanced MA or doctoral students, and other junior researchers in the fields of Armenian Studies, Oriental Studies, Christian Oriental Studies, Theology, Indo-European Studies, Archaeology, Art History and Comparative Manuscript Studies. Dependent on prior arrangement with the home institution, students of the Oriental Institute of the Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg are entitled to receive credit points for their participation. The participation fee is 100 Euro. The enrollment in the workshop will only be active after payment. Bank details will be communicated to successful applicants in November 2015. In case of cancellation the fee cannot be reimbursed. The workshop will be held mainly in English. The number of participants will be limited to 20! Applications, including a motivation letter, curriculum vitae, a summary of your current research, should be sent to [email protected] or by regular mail to Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Orientabteilung, Potsdamer Straße 33, 10785 Berlin, until 15 October 2015.
Uploads
this essay was taken from two earlier articles: Dickran Kouymjian, "Le Cinéma arménien aux
Etats-Unis," Armenia, Paris, June (1984), pp. 44-48, and D. Kouymjian, "Les Arméniens et le
cinéma américan," Le Cinéma Arménien, Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, 1993, pp. 104-122.
Research Networking Programme ‘Comparative
Oriental Manuscript Studies’, funded by the
European Science Foundation in the years
2009–2014. It is the first attempt to introduce a
wide audience to the entirety of the manuscript
cultures of the Mediterranean East.
The chapters reflect the state of the art
in such fields as codicology, palaeography,
textual criticism and text editing, cataloguing,
and manuscript conservation as applied to a
wide array of language traditions including
Arabic, Armenian, Avestan, Caucasian Albanian,
Christian Palestinian Aramaic, Coptic, Ethiopic,
Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Persian, Slavonic,
Syriac, and Turkish.
Seventy-seven scholars from twenty-one
countries joined their efforts to produce
the handbook. The resulting reference work
can be recommended both to scholars and
students of classical and oriental studies and
to all those involved in manuscript research,
digital humanities, and preservation of cultural
heritage.
The volume includes maps, illustrations,
indexes, and an extensive bibliography
Most are silver, sometimes just crosses or other decorative motifs attached to
the original leather binding.The publication is the result of study and restoration of 77 metal bindings on
as many manuscripts in the most important collection of Armenian codices,
held in the Matenadaran, the Institute for the preservation and study of the
world’s largest collection of handwritten Armenian books in Erevan, Armenia.
Most are silver, sometimes just crosses or other decorative motifs attached to
the original leather binding.
and Marie Manoogian sponsored and aggressively assembled with the help of Bishop
Paren Avedikian, then a vardapet and the officiating priest at the adjoining St. John
Armenian Church, an edifice also patronized by Alex and Marie Manoogian. The
Museum was opened to the public in 1992, though the collection was already well
formed.
Scriptorium: Armenian Manuscript Studies at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
[Illustration are omitted.]
To provide a general notion of Armenian manuscripts, an historical summary of the development of Armenian writing and the production of handwritten books is in order. A century after Armenia was converted to Christianity the native language did not have its own writing system, this was the major incentive to the invention of the Armenian alphabet by the monk Mesrop in the first years of the fifth century with its original thirty-six letter later expanded to thirty-eight.
Textiles offer a rich opportunity to explore the projection of identity, both within and between social and cultural groups. A pertinent arena for such an exploration is the intercultural region of the Mediterranean. This workshop will bring together a group of junior and senior scholars to investigate and elucidate the role of textiles in the cultures of the Medieval and early Modern Mediterranean, and its periphery, with a focus on specific case studies. Our investigation will analyze textiles as tools for projecting identity within specific contexts, whether cross-cultural or not. Institutionalized practices of textile use and reuse, written and unwritten rules governing ceremonial use, the departure from standard practices, the active reception of imports and their interpretation will form the major topics examined by the participating scholars. Our directed investigation will seek to identity parallels and points of contact between the use of textiles in various political entities, and among social groups and cultures.
Program
3 June 2016
Venue: Museum of Islamic Art, 22 Ag. Asomaton & 12 Dipylou St., Athens
Welcoming remarks
9:30 John Bennet, British School at Athens
9:40 Mina Moraitou, Benaki Museum
Opening remarks
9:50 Nikolaos Vryzidis, British School at Athens
1. Medieval Islamic textiles in the Eastern Mediterranean
10:00 Alison Ohta, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland: Chair
10:10 Scott Redford, SOAS-University of London: ‘Seljuk silks, standards and emblems’
10:30 Marielle Martiniani-Reber, Musées d’Art et d’Histoire de Genève: ‘The relationship between Islamic and Byzantine textiles during the Middle Byzantine period’
10: 50 Maria Sardi, SOAS-University of London: ‘Towards a standardization of Mamluk aesthetic: influences and identity as reflected on textiles’
11:10 Discussion
11:30 Coffee break
2. Western Mediterranean cross-cultural encounters
11:40 Mina Moraitou, Benaki Museum: Chair
11: 50 Ana Cabrera, Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas & Laura Rodríguez Peinado, Universidad Complutense de Madrid: ‘Medieval Textiles from the Iberian Peninsula: state of the art and new approaches of study’
12:20 Vera-Simone Schulz, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz: ‘Entangled Identities: Textiles and the Art and Architecture of the Italian Peninsula in a Mediterranean Perspective’
12:40 Discussion
13:00 Lunch break
3. The multi-cultural Ottoman Empire
14:00 Helen Philon, Independent scholar: Chair
14:10 Anna Ballian, Benaki Museum (Emerita): ‘Chios silks’
14:30 Amanda Philips, University of Virginia: ‘Interventions in technology and fashion: the case of Ottoman compound weaves’
14:50 Elena Papastavrou, Hellenic Ministry of Culture & Sports: ‘Greek-Orthodox cultural identity as reflected on Constantinopolitan Church Embroidery’
15:10 Discussion
15:30 Coffee break
4. Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Christian textiles
15:40 Warren Woodfin, City University of New York: Chair
15:50 Dickran Kouymjian, California State University-Fresno (Emeritus): ‘Armenian Altar Curtains: Repository of Tradition and Innovation’
16:10 Nikolaos Vryzidis, British School at Athens: ‘Animal motifs on Asian silks used by the Greek Church: an afterlife of Byzantine iconography?’
16: 30 Jacopo Gnisci, Independent scholar: ‘Towards a History of Ecclesiastical Dress in Early Solomonic Ethiopia’
16:50 Discussion
General discussion and concluding remarks
17:10 Nikolaos Vryzidis, British School at Athens
End
4 June 2016
Study day (attendance by invitation only)
10:00-13:00 Handling session (Benaki Museum Peiraios annex), hosted by Mina Moraitou
15:00 Museum visit (Benaki Museum main building), hosted by Anastasia Drandaki
End
Keynote Lecture: 14 March 2016 (Prof. Dr. Dickran Kouymjian).
The workshop is intended for advanced MA or doctoral students, and other junior researchers in the fields of Armenian Studies, Oriental Studies, Christian Oriental Studies, Theology, Indo-European Studies, Archaeology, Art History and Comparative Manuscript Studies. Dependent on prior arrangement with the home institution, students of the Oriental Institute of the Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg are entitled to receive credit points for their participation. The participation fee is 100 Euro. The enrollment in the workshop will only be active after payment. Bank details will be communicated to successful applicants in November 2015. In case of cancellation the fee cannot be reimbursed. The workshop will be held mainly in English. The number of participants will be limited to 20! Applications, including a motivation letter, curriculum vitae, a summary of your current research, should be sent to [email protected] or by regular mail to Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Orientabteilung, Potsdamer Straße 33, 10785 Berlin, until 15 October 2015.