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Index

Armenia

The Urartu Civilisation

Victory for Independence

Artashisian Dynasty on the Armenian Throne

Armenia caught between Rome and the Arsacids

The Acceptance of Christianity

Defending Christianity

Armenia Under the Bagratouni Dynasty

Cilicia - the New Armenia

Armenia Under Turanian Rule

The Renaissance or the Resurrection of Armenia

The Eastern Question

Russia in the Caucasus

The Armenian Question

Battle on Two Fronts

Tsarist Russia Against the Armenians

The Revolution of the Young Turks and the Armenian People on the Eve of World War I

The First World War

The Resurrection of Armenia

Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918

- Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918

Eastern Armenia

Western Armenia

"The Fateful Years" (1914-1917)

"Hopes and Emotions" (March-October, 1917)

The Bolshevik Revolution and Armenia

Transcaucasia Adrift (November, 1917

Dilemmas (March-April, 1918)

War and Independence (April-May, 1918)

The Republics of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia

The Suppliants (June-October, 1918)

In conclusion

Soviet Armenia

The Second Independent Republic of Armenia

Epilogue

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Armenia's Role in the Creation of the Christian Architecture

Armenia's greatest role, however, in the fields of culture and civilization, during the centuries succeeding the acceptance of the Christianity, was in its architecture, the most genuine reflection of the thoughts and spirits of a people and an era. It is in architecture that Armenia has proved itself as the complete link between East and West; and in architecture that the Armenian people, with its strength, originality and special characters, has displayed the power of its creativity.

The participation of Armenia in the development of culture and the arts is succinctly described by the famous Austrian historian and art-expert J. Strzygowski, who devoted one of his most important works to the architecture of Armenia and its connections to Europe. 82

Strzygowski wrote this work after his long journey to Armenia in 1913, when he received significant assistance from the Armenian scientist and architect Toros Toramanian, to whom Armenia pays great reverence. In it, Strzygowski explains that oriental Christian architecture, which until the emergence of Roman architecture during the 11th century in the west dominated over other Christian architecture styles, has Armenian architecture to thank for its own existence. He proposes that the origin of oriental Christian architecture is to be found in Armenia. He also exclaims that, in all his research on Christian art "there [in Armenia] he has, for the first time, felt firm ground under his feet." 84

We know that Christianity, during its infancy, had a limited interest in art, since it was regarded as a symbol of sin and a school for spreading the heathen beliefs and moral decadence. Over time, however, and especially from the 4th century onwards, with the wider acceptance of Christianity, first in Armenia and later in the Roman Empire, there was a significant increase in religious architecture. From this time, peoples and their rulers expressed their love and affection for the new religion through enormous and magnificent buildings, dedicated to Christianity.

In the Roman Empire and Constantinople, these buildings were especially influenced by the architecture of the past. The majority of the new churches built were for a long time in the old style, which became known as Basilica. It was not until the end of the 4th century and the beginning of the 5th century that new techniques and forms began to appear, encompassing square towers and churches with central planes, Basilica with domes, and other styles. These revolutionized Christian architecture and resulted in a new model called Byzantine, which came to dominate religious architecture for many centuries.

In his book, Strzygowski proves that the roots of certain inventions and forms of Christian architecture go back to Armenia. In this thread, he points out that Armenia and Persia played the same role for Christian architecture as Greece did for Ancient architecture. Armenia, in constant contact with non-Christian Persia and its heathen architecture, mastered the skill of constructing the domes built long before in the religion of Mazdeism and its worship of the sun. Armenia being the first country in the east to accept Christianity as its state religion, it was also one of the very first countries in which the art of building churches spread rapidly. As Taxier writes: "The influence which Christianity had on Armenian architecture seemed to be a national inspiration." 85