"Treasures from the Ark" exhibition

[bellthecat]

Friday, March 2 marks the opening of a major exhibition of Armenian art and

history at the British Library in London, "Treasures from the Ark: 1700

Years of Armenian Christian Art" celebrating the 1700th anniversary of the

founding of the Armenian Church.

 

The exhibit runs through May 27, 2001.

The exhibition catalogue by Dr. Vrej Nersessian of the British Library has

over 200 works of art including illuminated manuscripts, stone crosses,

sculpture, textiles and ceramics from collections in over twenty countries,

many of which have never been seen outside Armenia.

 

See their website for more info (it is under the exhibitions section)

http://www.bl.uk/

 

The online tour is interesting.

 

Steve

[MJ]

Eastern jewels in Christianity's crown Treasures from the Ark:

1700 Years of Armenian Christian Art 5stars

 

 

The British Library's display of Armenia's cultural riches is a revelation,

writes Michael Church

 

Tuesday, 6th March 2001

The Scotsman

 

British Library, London

 

SAY what you like about Robin Cook, it was none the less highly appropriate

that he should be the man to launch the British Library's new exhibition of

Armenian Christian treasures last Friday. For as political good causes go,

this one hits the jackpot: a desperately poor country, desperately keen to

join forces with the West, with a desperately unhappy recent past.

 

Only Turkey remains in denial about the Turkish genocide which despatched

millions of Armenians in 1915, and which propelled most of the survivors to

seek refuge abroad. The Armenian diaspora predated the post-Holocaust Jewish

one, and gave Hitler his evil idea. This is why Armenians are such a strong

cultural force in France, California, Australia, Russia and Lebanon - not to

mention Portugal and Britain, where Calouste Gulbenkian's foundation lives on

through its cultural works. That "ian" in the name is the give-away link:

think of singer Cathy Berberian, novelist William Saroyan and Garbo's

favourite director, Rouben Mamoulian. Talented folk, Armenians.

 

But, exactly 1,700 years ago, Armenia officially recognised Christianity -

the first country to do so. And this is the reason for the exhibition's

subtitle: 1700 Years of Armenian Christian Art. Walk into the British

Library's new exhibition gallery, and you find yourself surrounded by stone

crosses, sculptures, wood carvings, textiles and ceramics. And in the

showcases along the walls you'll find illuminated books of a kind you won't

have seen before.

 

Illuminated is both the correct technical term, and also a more evocative

one, for the colours in these ancient Gospels still glow. They have nothing

in common with their gloomy western equivalents: the Armenian illustrators

allowed themselves wonderful licence with fabrics and foliage, and gave their

human likenesses a cinematic freedom and vigour. Creating pigments from milk,

eggs, arsenic, azure and a variety of vegetable ingredients, they led the

world in colour, and it shows.

 

Moreover, their geographical position - linking the empires of Christianity

and Islam - led to a commensurate hybridisation in design: some of their

painted scenes reflect Persian origins, others suggest Rajasthan. And the

mythologies they incorporate are hybrid too; witness the lion sleeping under

the Cross in the Armenian Crucifixion, which came from ancient Greece. The

first Armenian book was printed in Venice; the first Armenian Bible was

printed in Madras: Armenian culture was always cosmopolitan.

 

But this exhibition is also rich in political overtones. The preservation of

many of the artefacts is down to a surprisingly enlightened attitude on the

part of the occupying Soviets. On the other hand, many of the treasures which

should have been here remain in Iran and Georgia. The Iranian government

hadn't wanted to take part, and the Georgians - traditionally rivals of their

southern neighbour - hadn't been prepared to send exhibits to a show that was

not their own. The Ark in the title embodies the richest irony of all: Noah

was supposed to have made his landfall on Mount Ararat - clearly visible from

the Armenian capital of Yerevan, but now within the borders of modern Turkey.

 

So go and be amazed, and while you're in the building visit the gallery

upstairs, where more of the Library's manuscripts are on display. There are

copies of the Koran from Uzbekistan and Tuva, and scores by Bach and Purcell.

This is the British Library's first foray into showbiz, and it's a stunning

start.

 

Until 28 May.