WANTED FOR NEW MOVIE ABOUT THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE - Armenian News... A Topalian
YEVA – an Armenian girl 9 yrs to small 14 yrs .
Bright, talkative, confident, good English.
Filming: Selected dates between
September 15 th to November 25 th 2015
with some rehearsal prior.
The child will be licensed and tutored for this project which will film
in Spain and Malta.
The film also stars OSCAR ISAAC and CHRISTIAN BALE and many
Armenian actors and actresses.
Please call or e mail HUBBARD CASTING
020 7292 4975
sophie@hubbardcasting.com
HUBBARD CASTING
LORD OF THE RINGS, BOURNE ULTIMATUM, SPY, THE HOBB IT,
WAKING NED, HATFIELDS AND MCCOYS, BLOODY SUNDAY,
EVITA, THE COMMITMENTS…
panorama.am
NARE AND DAVIT STILL MOST POPULAR BABY NAMES IN
ARMENIA
31/07/2015
7,270 girls and 8,148 boys were born in Armenia in the first five
months of 2015, that is, there were 113 boys born per 100 girls,
while the statistical average is 102-106 boys born for every 100
girls, Head of the Census and Demography Unit of Armenian National
Statistical Service Karine Kuyumjyan said at press conference today.
According to her, the most popular baby names in Armenia are: female
names - Nare, Mari, Maria, Anahit, Mane, Milena, Mariam, Angelia,
Ani, and Elen, while the most popular names for baby boys are Davit,
Narek, Tigran, Hayk, Aleks, Gor, Alen, Erik, and Arthur.
20,218 girls and 22,965 boys were born in Armenia in 2014. Nare and
David topped the popular baby names list in 2014 as well.
armenianews.com
DEMOGRAPHICS
Armenia is expected to lose 1 million in the next 50 years
according to a UN study
Krikor Amirzayan
2 August 2015
The Armenian newspaper "Hayots Ashkhar" (Armenian World), based on
data compiled by the UN in a report entitled "Perspectives of the
population of the world-2015" writing that population growth on the
planet would continue until 2100 . Regarding Armenia, the UN sources
who take the figure of 3.018 million current residents of Armenia,
stated that this figure will fall to 2,993,000 in 2030 and 2,729,000
in 2050 with a decline of 9, 6% of the population. Finally in 2100 the
same sources predict a population of 1,739,000 inhabitants in Armenia.
So in the next 50 years if the pace continues demographics as well,
Armenia will lose nearly a million people! In 2100 the population of
the planet should attach to 11.213 billion inhabitants.
arka.am
2 August 2015
The Armenian newspaper "Hayots Ashkhar" (Armenian World), based on
data compiled by the UN in a report entitled "Perspectives of the
population of the world-2015" writing that population growth on the
planet would continue until 2100 . Regarding Armenia, the UN sources
who take the figure of 3.018 million current residents of Armenia,
stated that this figure will fall to 2,993,000 in 2030 and 2,729,000
in 2050 with a decline of 9, 6% of the population. Finally in 2100 the
same sources predict a population of 1,739,000 inhabitants in Armenia.
So in the next 50 years if the pace continues demographics as well,
Armenia will lose nearly a million people! In 2100 the population of
the planet should attach to 11.213 billion inhabitants.
arka.am
OVER 200,000 PEOPLE MIGRATE FROM ARMENIA IN FIVE
YEARS - EX-HEAD OF CENTRAL BANK
YEREVAN, August 4. More than 200,000 people migrated from
Armenia over the last five years, ex-head of the Central Bank of
Armenia Bagrat Asatryan said in his interview to Zhamanak (Time)
newspaper.
In terms of demography, Armenia is on the edge of deaths exceeding
births, according to Asatryan. This will happen in the next 3-4 years,
which means natural decline will be recorded, along with emigration,
he said.
Unfortunately, demographic situation is the most urgent issue in
Armenia where, even in the circumstances of 4% economic activity,
people cannot find their place in the country and seek fortune
overseas, Asatryan said.
Asatryan also referred to the situation in Georgia saying it is not
very different from the one in Armenia in terms of macroeconomic
indicators, employment and per capita income levels.
"But corruption and negative demographic processes were stopped in
that country, and moreover, positive results were achieved in terms
of democratic development. People there believe they can have future
in their country. Which is not the case with Armenia," Asatryan said.
According to Armenia's National Statistical Service, number of resident
population in the country was 3 million 5,500 people as of July 1,
2015, as compared to 3 million 9,800 people as of July 1, 2014.
Negative migration balance was 9,200 people in the first half of the
year, and natural population growth was 4,100 people.
According to the statistics, as of January 1, 2015, number of resident
population in the country was 3 million 10,600 people, a reduction
of 6,500 people compared to early January 2014. -0--
panorama.am
COULD ARMENIA AVOID AN ECONOMIC RECESSION?
04/08/2015
National Statistical Service of Armenia has released macroeconomic
data for the first half of 2015. The data shows considerable growth in
several sectors, raising hopes that Armenia could avoid an economic
recession, despite predictions made by international organizations
since early 2015. There was 14.5% growth in agriculture this year as
compared with the same period of 2014.
The gross agricultural output amounted to 235.5 billion drams in the
first half of 2015. The rich apricot harvest contributed to a bigger
agricultural output this year, while the weather is good for other
crops as well so the agricultural output index is expected to exceed
last year's figures. About 161 thousand tons of fruit and berries were
harvested as of early August, including 103 thousand tons of apricots,
which was by 14 thousand tons more than last year. Armenian Ministry
of Agriculture said that as of July 27 about 20,000 tons of apricots
were exported from Armenia compared with just 1,791 tons throughout
2014, and cherry exports amounted to 2,038 tons compared with 370
tons last year.
Exports of cucumbers, herbs and cabbage this year were several times
as much as exports in 2014, showing that agricultural sector's growth
is not limited to an increased output of only one product. Industrial
output grew by 5.1% in the first half of 2015, but the increase in
construction sector was insignificant. Out of other macroeconomic
indicators, the commodity turnover experienced a decline, with imports
and exports dropping by 1.3% and 28.2% respectively. The decline in
imports was conditioned by a fall in the purchasing power, a tendency
reported in all post-Soviet countries this year due to the depreciation
of national currencies and the deterioration of the economic situation
in Russia. The sharp drop in imports as compared to exports led to a
reduction of the negative balance of trade, which in turn stabilized
somewhat the national currency. In conclusion, it should be noted that
the positive trends in several sectors, along with 4.2% increase in
economic activity may help Armenia avoid an economic recession this
year if those trends continue until the end of the year.
news.am
Yezidis go on hunger strike in Yerevan
04/08/2015
National Statistical Service of Armenia has released macroeconomic
data for the first half of 2015. The data shows considerable growth in
several sectors, raising hopes that Armenia could avoid an economic
recession, despite predictions made by international organizations
since early 2015. There was 14.5% growth in agriculture this year as
compared with the same period of 2014.
The gross agricultural output amounted to 235.5 billion drams in the
first half of 2015. The rich apricot harvest contributed to a bigger
agricultural output this year, while the weather is good for other
crops as well so the agricultural output index is expected to exceed
last year's figures. About 161 thousand tons of fruit and berries were
harvested as of early August, including 103 thousand tons of apricots,
which was by 14 thousand tons more than last year. Armenian Ministry
of Agriculture said that as of July 27 about 20,000 tons of apricots
were exported from Armenia compared with just 1,791 tons throughout
2014, and cherry exports amounted to 2,038 tons compared with 370
tons last year.
Exports of cucumbers, herbs and cabbage this year were several times
as much as exports in 2014, showing that agricultural sector's growth
is not limited to an increased output of only one product. Industrial
output grew by 5.1% in the first half of 2015, but the increase in
construction sector was insignificant. Out of other macroeconomic
indicators, the commodity turnover experienced a decline, with imports
and exports dropping by 1.3% and 28.2% respectively. The decline in
imports was conditioned by a fall in the purchasing power, a tendency
reported in all post-Soviet countries this year due to the depreciation
of national currencies and the deterioration of the economic situation
in Russia. The sharp drop in imports as compared to exports led to a
reduction of the negative balance of trade, which in turn stabilized
somewhat the national currency. In conclusion, it should be noted that
the positive trends in several sectors, along with 4.2% increase in
economic activity may help Armenia avoid an economic recession this
year if those trends continue until the end of the year.
news.am
Yezidis go on hunger strike in Yerevan
01.08.2015
YEREVAN. - Two public figures of the Yezidi community of Armenia,
Sashik Sultanyan and Rustam Bakoyan, on Saturday went on a three-day
hunger strike outside the United Nations (UN) Office in Armenia.
They are demanding to put an end to the genocide of the Yezidis in
northern Iraq.
The public figures also demand from the UN to assist the Yezidis in
liberating 8,000 to 9,000 Yezidis that are held captive by the Islamic
State.
`They are selling the captive Yezidi women in the Arab markets,' added
Bakoyan toArmenian News-NEWS.am.
The Yezidis also demand that the UN Security Council intervene, and,
to ensure the safety of the Yezidis, a Yezidi autonomy to be formed in
the Shangal (Sinjar) province in northern Iraq.
`The Yezidis in Iraq, [and] representatives of the Yezidi community in
European countries also have gone on a hunger strike today,' added
Bakoyan.
He also informed that ten Yezidis from Shangal have petitioned to
them, and with a request to be relocated to Armenia.
`We will try to assist them and transfer [them] here,' said Rustam
Bakoyan. `[But] I believe that, once the situation is handled in
Shangal, we will be able to return these Yezidis to their homes.'
YEREVAN. - Two public figures of the Yezidi community of Armenia,
Sashik Sultanyan and Rustam Bakoyan, on Saturday went on a three-day
hunger strike outside the United Nations (UN) Office in Armenia.
They are demanding to put an end to the genocide of the Yezidis in
northern Iraq.
The public figures also demand from the UN to assist the Yezidis in
liberating 8,000 to 9,000 Yezidis that are held captive by the Islamic
State.
`They are selling the captive Yezidi women in the Arab markets,' added
Bakoyan toArmenian News-NEWS.am.
The Yezidis also demand that the UN Security Council intervene, and,
to ensure the safety of the Yezidis, a Yezidi autonomy to be formed in
the Shangal (Sinjar) province in northern Iraq.
`The Yezidis in Iraq, [and] representatives of the Yezidi community in
European countries also have gone on a hunger strike today,' added
Bakoyan.
He also informed that ten Yezidis from Shangal have petitioned to
them, and with a request to be relocated to Armenia.
`We will try to assist them and transfer [them] here,' said Rustam
Bakoyan. `[But] I believe that, once the situation is handled in
Shangal, we will be able to return these Yezidis to their homes.'
news.am
3 YEZIDI FAMILIES ESCAPE ISLAMISTS IN IRAQ AND COME
TO ARMENIA
31.07.2015
YEREVAN. - Adl Beshari, 14, a resident of Shangal (Sinjar) province
in northern Iraq, who is a Yezidi and who, together with his family,
miraculously escaped the crimes committed by the Islamic State, arrived
from Erbil, in northern Iraq, to Armenia, with his parents and brother.
But Adl's three sisters and two brothers are still in Erbil; they
could not come along due to documentation problems.
Adl said he lived a good life in Shangal with his family, until
the Islamic State arrived in their town. He had witnessed how these
Islamists were killing his fellow Yezidis, and without showing mercy.
"If we can work out our lives in Armenia, we'll stay here," said Adl.
"But I want that one day the situation stabilizes in Shangal, and I
return to my homeland, my home."
Three Yezidi families on Thursday relocated to Armenia. They will
live in a house in Araks village in Vagharshapat--commonly known as
Etchmiadzin--city, until it becomes possible to allocate a separate
home to each family.
The Yezidi community of Armenia has organized a fundraiser to help
these families, and some have also provided food.
RFE/RL Report
Armenian PM Upbeat On Economic Growth Prospects
Satenik Kaghzvantsian
03.08.2015
Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian has downplayed the impact of
the falling tax revenues from large businesses in the first half of
the year on the prospect of achieving overall economic growth in 2015.
Data posted last week suggested that the top 1,000 corporate taxpayers
of Armenia paid over 15 percent less in taxes in January-June 2015
than during the same period last year. Some analysts rushed to
question the ability of the government to ensure the expansion of the
economy in conditions of decreasing taxes paid by leading businesses.
Armenia - Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian chairs a weekly cabinet
meeting in Yerevan, 21May2015.
But talking to reporters while visiting Gyumri on Saturday, Prime
Minister Abrahamian reaffirmed that Armenia is on track to end the
year with an economic growth that the government earlier projected at
4.1 percent.
"Collecting taxes is not our ultimate goal," Abrahamian said. "In
January-June 2015 our economy registered a 4.5-percent economic
growth, we have growth in all sectors, the only sector where we have a
considerable decline is commodity turnover and it is directly
connected with the Russian Federation," he said.
In June, the World Bank predicted a growth rate of only 0.8 percent
for Armenia. And the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for its part,
said earlier that month that the country will likely post zero growth
in 2015.
Both the World Bank and the IMF blamed the ongoing recession in Russia
for Armenia's worsening macroeconomic performance.
But Armenia's prime minister warned against early assumptions and
reiterated that Armenia's economy will be more active in the second
half of the year.
"I am confident that our team led by the president will do their best
to ensure [our projected] economic growth," Abrahamian stressed.
Remarkably, the head of the Armenian government had come to Gyumri
together with Swiss-Armenian businessman Vartan Sirmakes, who plans a
$10-million investment program for Armenia's second largest city.
RFE/RL Report
Sixth Pan-Armenian Games Kick Off In Yerevan
03.08.2015
The Sixth Pan-Armenian Games have opened in Yerevan, bringing together
over 6,300 athletes from Armenia and Armenian communities abroad.
The Games, currently held every four years, are designed to foster
closer relationships between Armenia and its far-flung Diaspora.
Armenia is an ethnically homogenous country that has a population of
about 3 million. But twice as many ethnic Armenians are believed to
live abroad. Most of them are descendants of survivors of the 1915
massacres in Ottoman Turkey that more than two dozen governments of
the world as well as many historians recognize as the first genocide
of the 20th century.
Athletes coming from several dozen countries of the world will compete
during 10 days for medals in as many as 17 sports, including soccer,
mini-soccer, basketball, volleyball, tennis, table tennis, swimming,
track and field athletics, chess, badminton, cycling, shooting,
arm-wrestling, golf, handball, beach volleyball and sport dancing.
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian welcomed "our Diaspora sisters and
brothers to Mother Armenia" as he addressed the opening ceremony held
at the Vazgen Sarkisian Republican Stadium Sunday night.
"When organizing the Pan-Armenian Games, our first goal was to ensure
the broadest participation so that sports and healthy lifestyle reach
every one of us. Moreover, it is very important for sports to unite
people and become one of the realities consolidating our people all
over the world," he said. "I am confident that you keep these central
values burning in your hearts."
When the first Pan-Armenian Games were held in 1999 the number of
athletes participating in the events was just over a thousand. The
geography of the Games was also less extensive as it included only 23
countries and 63 cities, compared to 36 countries and 175 cities
today. Sixteen years ago athletes competed only in 10 sports.
"Many of you represent already the 4th or 5th generation born in the
Diaspora. There are people among you who have visited their homeland
for the first time. There are people who find it hard to speak in
Armenian. But Armenia is always in their soul, and Armenia's heart is
open to them," President Sarkisian said in his speech, as quoted by
his press office.
"All the people present here are bound together by one commonality -
the Armenian identity. No matter how many new and different additional
strata of identities are added, Armenianness, being Armenians is our
mother identity. It is that very identity that in this year marked by
Armenian Genocide commemorative events makes us repeat the slogan of
2015 - I Remember and Demand."
In 2014, Armenia also hosted the first Winter Pan-Armenian Games.
31.07.2015
YEREVAN. - Adl Beshari, 14, a resident of Shangal (Sinjar) province
in northern Iraq, who is a Yezidi and who, together with his family,
miraculously escaped the crimes committed by the Islamic State, arrived
from Erbil, in northern Iraq, to Armenia, with his parents and brother.
But Adl's three sisters and two brothers are still in Erbil; they
could not come along due to documentation problems.
Adl said he lived a good life in Shangal with his family, until
the Islamic State arrived in their town. He had witnessed how these
Islamists were killing his fellow Yezidis, and without showing mercy.
"If we can work out our lives in Armenia, we'll stay here," said Adl.
"But I want that one day the situation stabilizes in Shangal, and I
return to my homeland, my home."
Three Yezidi families on Thursday relocated to Armenia. They will
live in a house in Araks village in Vagharshapat--commonly known as
Etchmiadzin--city, until it becomes possible to allocate a separate
home to each family.
The Yezidi community of Armenia has organized a fundraiser to help
these families, and some have also provided food.
RFE/RL Report
Armenian PM Upbeat On Economic Growth Prospects
Satenik Kaghzvantsian
03.08.2015
Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian has downplayed the impact of
the falling tax revenues from large businesses in the first half of
the year on the prospect of achieving overall economic growth in 2015.
Data posted last week suggested that the top 1,000 corporate taxpayers
of Armenia paid over 15 percent less in taxes in January-June 2015
than during the same period last year. Some analysts rushed to
question the ability of the government to ensure the expansion of the
economy in conditions of decreasing taxes paid by leading businesses.
Armenia - Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian chairs a weekly cabinet
meeting in Yerevan, 21May2015.
But talking to reporters while visiting Gyumri on Saturday, Prime
Minister Abrahamian reaffirmed that Armenia is on track to end the
year with an economic growth that the government earlier projected at
4.1 percent.
"Collecting taxes is not our ultimate goal," Abrahamian said. "In
January-June 2015 our economy registered a 4.5-percent economic
growth, we have growth in all sectors, the only sector where we have a
considerable decline is commodity turnover and it is directly
connected with the Russian Federation," he said.
In June, the World Bank predicted a growth rate of only 0.8 percent
for Armenia. And the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for its part,
said earlier that month that the country will likely post zero growth
in 2015.
Both the World Bank and the IMF blamed the ongoing recession in Russia
for Armenia's worsening macroeconomic performance.
But Armenia's prime minister warned against early assumptions and
reiterated that Armenia's economy will be more active in the second
half of the year.
"I am confident that our team led by the president will do their best
to ensure [our projected] economic growth," Abrahamian stressed.
Remarkably, the head of the Armenian government had come to Gyumri
together with Swiss-Armenian businessman Vartan Sirmakes, who plans a
$10-million investment program for Armenia's second largest city.
RFE/RL Report
Sixth Pan-Armenian Games Kick Off In Yerevan
03.08.2015
The Sixth Pan-Armenian Games have opened in Yerevan, bringing together
over 6,300 athletes from Armenia and Armenian communities abroad.
The Games, currently held every four years, are designed to foster
closer relationships between Armenia and its far-flung Diaspora.
Armenia is an ethnically homogenous country that has a population of
about 3 million. But twice as many ethnic Armenians are believed to
live abroad. Most of them are descendants of survivors of the 1915
massacres in Ottoman Turkey that more than two dozen governments of
the world as well as many historians recognize as the first genocide
of the 20th century.
Athletes coming from several dozen countries of the world will compete
during 10 days for medals in as many as 17 sports, including soccer,
mini-soccer, basketball, volleyball, tennis, table tennis, swimming,
track and field athletics, chess, badminton, cycling, shooting,
arm-wrestling, golf, handball, beach volleyball and sport dancing.
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian welcomed "our Diaspora sisters and
brothers to Mother Armenia" as he addressed the opening ceremony held
at the Vazgen Sarkisian Republican Stadium Sunday night.
"When organizing the Pan-Armenian Games, our first goal was to ensure
the broadest participation so that sports and healthy lifestyle reach
every one of us. Moreover, it is very important for sports to unite
people and become one of the realities consolidating our people all
over the world," he said. "I am confident that you keep these central
values burning in your hearts."
When the first Pan-Armenian Games were held in 1999 the number of
athletes participating in the events was just over a thousand. The
geography of the Games was also less extensive as it included only 23
countries and 63 cities, compared to 36 countries and 175 cities
today. Sixteen years ago athletes competed only in 10 sports.
"Many of you represent already the 4th or 5th generation born in the
Diaspora. There are people among you who have visited their homeland
for the first time. There are people who find it hard to speak in
Armenian. But Armenia is always in their soul, and Armenia's heart is
open to them," President Sarkisian said in his speech, as quoted by
his press office.
"All the people present here are bound together by one commonality -
the Armenian identity. No matter how many new and different additional
strata of identities are added, Armenianness, being Armenians is our
mother identity. It is that very identity that in this year marked by
Armenian Genocide commemorative events makes us repeat the slogan of
2015 - I Remember and Demand."
In 2014, Armenia also hosted the first Winter Pan-Armenian Games.
independent.co.uk
SAN LAZZARO DEGLI ARMENI: A SLICE OF ARMENIA IN VENICE
Teresa Levonian Cole explores a monastery dedicated to Armenian
culture
Friday 31 July 2015
It's not your usual complement of gondola- hailing tourists that board
Vaporetto No 20 from San Zaccaria, at 3.10pm. Most are Italian, with a
smattering of American art historians and visitors of a more Levantine
countenance. All exude an air of gravitas. Some disembark at the
university island of San Servolo, leaving a small phalanx to continue
to journey's end: the Armenian monastery island of San Lazzaro.
In the year of the centenary of the mass killing of Armenians at the
hands of the Ottoman Empire, the tiny island of San Lazzaro degli
Armeni assumes particular significance. Formerly a leper colony,
it was the gift of Doge Alviso Mocenigo to Mekhitar, an Armenian
monk fleeing persecution in Constantinople. He arrived in 1717,
with 20 followers, to found a monastery dedicated to the cultural
and spiritual renaissance of the Armenian people.
Even Napoleon, no friend to monasteries, was impressed, and in 1797
he designated San Lazzaro an Academic Institution, saving it from
the axe. Today, just 12 vardapets (learned monks) and five novices
remain as custodians of 200,000 books, 4,500 rare manuscripts, and a
disparate collection of esoteric treasures. This Mother Church of the
Mekhitarist order has become a symbol of survival, and an important
centre of Armenian scholarship.
We follow a trail of incense through cloisters lined with Greek, Roman
and Phoenician antiquities, past the headless statue of a princess
from Aquilea, and enter the barrel-vaulted church. Beyond the walls,
closed to the public, lies a secret garden of great repute. Our guide,
Eleanora, tries to unravel the complex theology behind this monastery.
"Mekhitar," she concludes, "wanted to heal the rift between the
Eastern and Western churches." But amid the splendid marble and mosaic,
three low blind arches from the original church of 1348 remind us of
the island's insalubrious past. "They were windows through which the
lepers could follow Mass," explains Eleanora.
At the top of the ornate wrought iron "Staircase of Mekhitar", the
work of home-grown artists hangs along one of the corridors leading to
monks' cells; the aquiline features of Armenian dignitaries in Ottoman
dress stare soulfully from the walls. The largest canvases are housed
in the museum dedicated to Armenian treasures, which also has Bronze
Age metalwork, gold coins from the first century BC, stamps from the
short-lived First Republic of Armenia, and the sword, forged in 1366,
of Leon VI of Lusignan, King of the Armenian House of Cilicia.
Among the names of distinguished visitors to the monastery's Libro
d'Oro, is that of George Gordon Byron, who spent six months here
in 1816, studying Armenian - "the language to speak with God". Lord
Byron's erstwhile classroom is now occupied by a perfectly preserved
2,600-year-old Egyptian mummy, called Nemenkhet, who grins,
humourlessly from beneath an intricate mantle of coloured beads.
Surrounded by bookcases bearing the 23 gigantic volumes of Description
de L'Egypte - an exhaustive archaeological survey commissioned by
Napoleon following his Egyptian campaign - Nemenkhet no doubt feels
at home.
For all its curiosities, the soul of the monastery resides in its three
libraries: from the magnificent Monumental Library, whose pear-wood
bookcases contain rare European tomes spanning every subject, through
Byron's Room, and on to the circular Manuscript Room, which houses
one of the world's most important collections of Armenian manuscripts,
including Gospels created in 862 for Queen Melket.
Most importantly, the library also holds early Armenian translations of
ancient texts - such as works by Philo, Hesiod and St John Chrysostom
- whose originals had been lost but were translated by the monks into
Latin and thus revived.
"If the Scriptures are rightly understood," wrote Lord Byron back in
1817, "it was in Armenia that Paradise was placed." Indeed, if you
visit San Lazzaro in summer, you can sample the monks' rose-petal jam,
which is made from the flowers in the monks' own private Eden.
Getting there
Teresa Levonian Cole travelled with Kirker Holidays (020 7593 2283;
kirkerholidays.com), which offers three nights' B&B at the Gritti
Palace, Venice, from £998pp, including flights and water-taxi
transfers.
Friday 31 July 2015
It's not your usual complement of gondola- hailing tourists that board
Vaporetto No 20 from San Zaccaria, at 3.10pm. Most are Italian, with a
smattering of American art historians and visitors of a more Levantine
countenance. All exude an air of gravitas. Some disembark at the
university island of San Servolo, leaving a small phalanx to continue
to journey's end: the Armenian monastery island of San Lazzaro.
In the year of the centenary of the mass killing of Armenians at the
hands of the Ottoman Empire, the tiny island of San Lazzaro degli
Armeni assumes particular significance. Formerly a leper colony,
it was the gift of Doge Alviso Mocenigo to Mekhitar, an Armenian
monk fleeing persecution in Constantinople. He arrived in 1717,
with 20 followers, to found a monastery dedicated to the cultural
and spiritual renaissance of the Armenian people.
Even Napoleon, no friend to monasteries, was impressed, and in 1797
he designated San Lazzaro an Academic Institution, saving it from
the axe. Today, just 12 vardapets (learned monks) and five novices
remain as custodians of 200,000 books, 4,500 rare manuscripts, and a
disparate collection of esoteric treasures. This Mother Church of the
Mekhitarist order has become a symbol of survival, and an important
centre of Armenian scholarship.
We follow a trail of incense through cloisters lined with Greek, Roman
and Phoenician antiquities, past the headless statue of a princess
from Aquilea, and enter the barrel-vaulted church. Beyond the walls,
closed to the public, lies a secret garden of great repute. Our guide,
Eleanora, tries to unravel the complex theology behind this monastery.
"Mekhitar," she concludes, "wanted to heal the rift between the
Eastern and Western churches." But amid the splendid marble and mosaic,
three low blind arches from the original church of 1348 remind us of
the island's insalubrious past. "They were windows through which the
lepers could follow Mass," explains Eleanora.
At the top of the ornate wrought iron "Staircase of Mekhitar", the
work of home-grown artists hangs along one of the corridors leading to
monks' cells; the aquiline features of Armenian dignitaries in Ottoman
dress stare soulfully from the walls. The largest canvases are housed
in the museum dedicated to Armenian treasures, which also has Bronze
Age metalwork, gold coins from the first century BC, stamps from the
short-lived First Republic of Armenia, and the sword, forged in 1366,
of Leon VI of Lusignan, King of the Armenian House of Cilicia.
Among the names of distinguished visitors to the monastery's Libro
d'Oro, is that of George Gordon Byron, who spent six months here
in 1816, studying Armenian - "the language to speak with God". Lord
Byron's erstwhile classroom is now occupied by a perfectly preserved
2,600-year-old Egyptian mummy, called Nemenkhet, who grins,
humourlessly from beneath an intricate mantle of coloured beads.
Surrounded by bookcases bearing the 23 gigantic volumes of Description
de L'Egypte - an exhaustive archaeological survey commissioned by
Napoleon following his Egyptian campaign - Nemenkhet no doubt feels
at home.
For all its curiosities, the soul of the monastery resides in its three
libraries: from the magnificent Monumental Library, whose pear-wood
bookcases contain rare European tomes spanning every subject, through
Byron's Room, and on to the circular Manuscript Room, which houses
one of the world's most important collections of Armenian manuscripts,
including Gospels created in 862 for Queen Melket.
Most importantly, the library also holds early Armenian translations of
ancient texts - such as works by Philo, Hesiod and St John Chrysostom
- whose originals had been lost but were translated by the monks into
Latin and thus revived.
"If the Scriptures are rightly understood," wrote Lord Byron back in
1817, "it was in Armenia that Paradise was placed." Indeed, if you
visit San Lazzaro in summer, you can sample the monks' rose-petal jam,
which is made from the flowers in the monks' own private Eden.
Getting there
Teresa Levonian Cole travelled with Kirker Holidays (020 7593 2283;
kirkerholidays.com), which offers three nights' B&B at the Gritti
Palace, Venice, from £998pp, including flights and water-taxi
transfers.
No comments:
Post a Comment