ART HISTORY

ART HISTORY: CHRONOLOGY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN FRESCOES

BETWEEN 1,220 AND 1,236 A.D.

Between 1,220 and 1, 236 A.D. Armenia witnessed the dark age for her arts and autonomy. The Seljuk Turks who invaded Armenia were ferocious. Their occupation years decimated Armenian arts but failed to create artistic anarchy and chaos in the mind of Armenian artists and artisans. Armenian artists were harassed, captured and tortured for simply being of a Christian faith. During the Ottoman occupation, they were unable to continue with their crafts and arts. Almost all aspects of artistic creativity were annihilated including the industry of ceramics, pottery, lace making, stone carving, paintings and frescoes. In addition, Armenia was constantly attacked and ravaged by other conquering and atrocious armies such as the Persians, the Arabs and the Mongols. Fearing for their lives, frescoes artists and artisans fled major cities and sought refuge in far distant monasteries. The destructive invasions of Armenia by the Seljuk Turks and Mongols, which began in 1220 and ended in 1236 with the occupation of Armenia, were followed by four centuries of incessant wars between the Ottoman Turks and the Persians. But the scholar monks who had sought refuge in the remote monasteries continued to teach the younger generation to write, to copy and to illustrate manuscripts on vellum. Following the destructive and repeated attacks by the Seljuk Turks and Mongols, all artistic activity in Armenia came to an end. Large sections of the population fled from the homeland. The Armenian immigrants, wherever they were settled, soon began to resume their spiritual and cultural activities. During the Crusades, the Armenian families that had settled in Cilicia established on an independent kingdom which lasted for three centuries (11th-14th) and which became a dominant cultural center especially in the fields of miniature painting and of calligraphy.

ARMENIAN MONASTERIES TO SHELTER AND PROTECT FRESCOES ARTISTS

Thanks to the Armenian monasteries, a great number of frescoes artists were able to carry on with their art to a certain degree because they were deprived from all the tools they needed, the materiel and raw materials. In addition, even those remote monasteries were subject to periodic attacks by the Ottomans. Armenian artists were not safe at home. The following four centuries of war between the Persians and the Ottomans devastated the frescoes art, industry, business and its expansion. Historical accounts revealed that many Armenian frescoes artists and decorative arts artisans were captured by the Ottomans and sent to Istanbul and major Turkish cities to decorate imperial palaces and public edifices. At that time, it did not pay to be known as a good frescoes artist. However, determined Armenian artists whom their religious faith in Christianity and genuine love for their art did not crack under foreign occupations. Those who were not captured, jailed or murdered by the Mongols and the Turks, took refuge in monasteries, and under the auspices of monks persevered in their art and continued to create frescoes and teach a new generation of frescoes artists. Side by side, Armenian artists and monks preserved the Armenian spirit, traditions and culture by teaching children and a whole new generation of young Armenians how to read the Gospels, how to write, how to carve, how to copy and how to illustrate manuscripts on vellum and how to create frescoes. This is how the art of frescoes survived in Armenia. It found refuge, shelter and sanctuary in Armenian monasteries. If the word University is to be applied to a center of learning, quite appropriate and proper would it be to call those medieval Armenian monasteries as the FIRST CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITIES AND CENTERS OF HIGHER LEARNING.

Photo: Ascension by Arakel, 1,356, Surkhat. Photo credits: Matenadaran.

UNDER THE SELJUKS AND MONGOLS: For years, during the constant attacks by the Seljuk Turks and the Mongols, Armenian arts ceased to exist. It was the brutal end of a the great Armenian artistic creativity. Thousands of Armenians fled the homeland. Prosperous markets shops shut down their doors and went out of business. Schools were not allowed to open in Armenian cities. Valuable goods and products were seized and confiscated by the Turks. This was the dark age of Armenia under the domination of the Seljuks.

IN THE 14^th CENTURY: A vibrant Armenian colony was created in Crimea. In the city of Theodosia the Armenians built 28 churches. The churches of Holy Stephanos in Theodosia and of the Holy Cross monastery in Surkhat were decorated with frescoes, the copies of which are exhibited in the Gallery. They bear evidence that Armenian masters who settled in the new lands did not forget their national traditions.

ARRIVAL OF THE CRUSADERS: Fortunately with the arrival of the Crusaders, Armenian artists revitalized their artistic spirit and commenced to paint again, to illustrate and to make frescoes. With the settlements of immigrant Armenians on the plateau of new Cilicia, a new hope of independence and artistic freedom saw the light. Cilicia became a formidable kingdom and a dominant center for arts and culture, thus giving rebirth and prosperity to the art of frescoes, iconography and illuminated manuscripts paintings.