TRAVEL TUESDAY 456 - YEREVAN, ARMENIA

“Armenian folklore has it that three apples fell from Heaven: one for the teller of a story, one for the listener, and the third for the one who 'took it to heart.' What a pity Heaven awarded no apple to the one who wrote the story down.” - Nancy Willard

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.

Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Yerevan (Armenian: Երևան[c] [jɛɾɛˈvɑn] sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. According to the official estimate of 2022, the current population of the city is 1,092,800.

Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial centre of the country, as its primate city. It has been the capital since 1918, the fourteenth in the history of Armenia and the seventh located in or around the Ararat Plain. The city also serves as the seat of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese, which is the largest diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church and one of the oldest dioceses in the world.

Republic Square (Armenian: Հանրապետության հրապարակ, Hanrapetut′yan hraparak, known locally as Hraparak, "the square") is the central city square in Yerevan. It consists of two sections: an oval roundabout and a trapezoid-shaped section which contains a pool with musical fountains. The square is surrounded by five major buildings built in pink and yellow tuff in the neoclassical style with extensive use of Armenian motifs.

This architectural ensemble includes the Government House, the History Museum and the National Gallery, Armenia Marriott Hotel and two buildings that formerly housed the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Transport and Communications. The square was originally designed by Alexander Tamanian in 1924.  The construction of most of the buildings was completed by the 1950s; the last building—the National Gallery—was completed in 1977.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 417 - YEREVAN, ARMENIA

"Armenian is a rich language, however, and would amply repay any one the trouble of learning it." - Lord Byron

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.
There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.
Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Sasuntsi Davit (Armenian: «Սասունցի Դավիթ») is a copper equestrian statue depicting David of Sassoun  in Yerevan, Armenia. Erected by Yervand Kochar in 1959, it depicts the protagonist of the Armenian national epic “Daredevils of Sassoun”. It is located in the Railway Station Square of the Capital City of Armenia, Yerevan.

Sculptor Yervand Kochar and architect Mikayel Mazmanian constructed the copper sculpture on a basalt base. It stands at 12 metres and the official unveiling was on December 3, 1959.

The statue has been widely admired by critics and visitors alike. Architectural historian Murad Hasratyan called it Kochar's masterpiece. In 1980 Ara Baliozian noted that the "splendid" statue has "acquired archetypal dimension." It has become a symbol of Yerevan and a landmark of Armenia. Rouben Paul Adalian noted that the "dynamic and forceful" statue is "such a compelling work of sculpture that the image became an emblematic portrait of the Soviet Armenian republic.

Yerevan (Armenian: Երևան[, sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city (population just over a million people) of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial centre of the country, as its primate city. It has been the capital since 1918, the fourteenth in the history of Armenia and the seventh located in or around the Ararat Plain. The city also serves as the seat of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese, which is the largest diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church and one of the oldest dioceses in the world.

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ART SUNDAY - TEODOR AXENTOWICZ

“Every viewer is going to get a different thing. That's the thing about painting, photography, cinema.” - David Lynch 

Teodor Axentowicz (Armenian: Թեոդոր Աքսենտովիչ ; born May 13, 1859 in Braşov, Romania – August 26, 1938 in Kraków) was a Polish-Armenian painter and university professor. A renowned artist of his times, he was also the rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. As an artist, Axentowicz was famous for his portraits and subtle scenes of Hutsul life, set in the Carpathians.

Axentowicz was born May 13, 1859 in Braşov, Hungary (now Romania), to a family of Polish-Armenian ancestry. In 1893 in Chelsea, London, he married Iza Henrietta Gielgud, aunt of Val Gielgud and John Gielgud of the theatrical dynasty. A son, Philip S.A.D. Axentowicz was born in Chelsea in 1893. Between 1879 and 1882 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. From there he moved to Paris, where he was a student of Carolus-Duran and continued his education until 1895. During that time he started a long-time cooperation with various journals and started his career as a copyist, duplicating the works of Tizian and Botticelli for Le Monde illustré. He also made numerous travels to London and Rome, where he prepared a set of portraits, one of the first in his career.

In 1894 he started collaboration with Wojciech Kossak and Jan Styka during the preparation of the Racławice Panorama, one of the largest panoramic paintings in the history of Polish art. The following year he moved to Kraków, where he became a professor at the local Academy of Fine Arts. He was also active in the local society and cooperated with various societies devoted to propagation of arts and crafts.

In 1897 he founded an artistic conservatory for women and soon afterwards became one of the founders of the Sztuka society, whose members were such artists as Józef Chełmoński, Julian Fałat, Jacek Malczewski, Józef Mehoffer, Jan Stanisławski, Włodzimierz Tetmajer, Leon Wyczółkowski and Stanisław Wyspiański. In 1910 he became the rector of the Academy and since 1928 was also an honorary member of the Zachęta Society. He died August 26, 1938 in Kraków.

Throughout his life he had numerous exhibitions, both in Poland and abroad. He was awarded many gold metals at both national and international exhibitions. The most notable were organized in: Berlin (1896, 1913), St. Louis (1904), Munich (1905, 1935), London (1906), Vienna (1908), Rome (1911), Venice (1914, 1926), Paris (1921), Chicago (1927), and Prague (1927). His paintings can be found in almost all public collections in Poland and in numerous private ones there and abroad.

In 1904 at the St. Louis World’s Fair, Axentowicz received a Special Commemorative Award in recognition of distinguished service in connection with various national sections of the Department of Art. While in Paris, he received the prestigious title of Officier d’Académie Ordre des Palmes Académiques and Member of Académie des Beaux-Arts. In addition to Society of Polish Artists “Sztuka”, he was also a member of Hagenbund and a founding member of the Vienna Secession.

The painting above is his Święcenie (“Celebration”), typical of his folk scene paintings.

ART SUNDAY - MINAS AVETISYAN

“I think that the memory of Armenia’s genocide opened my eyes at an early age to the existence of political cynicism.” - Serj Tankian 

Minas Avetisyan (July 20, 1928 — February 24, 1975) was an Armenian painter, graphic artist and theatrical artist. Avetisyan was born in the village of Jajur, Soviet Armenia. His mother, Sofo, was a daughter of the priest from Kars. His father, Karapet, was a smith from Mush. His wife was Gayane Mamajanyan.

Avetisyan studied at Terlemezyan College of Fine Arts in Yerevan (1947–1952), Yerevan Fine Arts and Theatre Institute (1952–1954), and the Painting, Sculpture and Architecture Institution ‘Ilya Repin’ in Leningrad (1955–1959), where his main teacher was Boris Ioganson. From 1960 on Avetisyan lived in Yerevan.

The main theme of his works was Armenian nature, the nature of Jajur, religious subjects, the life of the poor people, mountains, fields and the changes of landscape in the various seasons. Avetisyan emerged as an artist at the “Exhibition of Five” in Yerevan (1962). Numerous specialists and visitors to the exhibition appreciated his work greatly.

Avetisian’s technique differed from the method of plein-air painting which was once widespread in Armenian art. For him working from nature was no more than a preliminary stage, and the main portion of the work on the canvas being done in his studio. In 1967, he first appeared on film in the censored and suppressed documentary “The Colour of Armenian Land” by his friend Mikhail Vartanov.

In 1975, Avetisyan died under the wheels of the car, which stopped off at the sidewalk. Although the official versionof his death was quoted as an unfortunate accident, some sources maintain that he was murdered by the KGB.

Avetisyan’s work is characterised by seemingly wild brush work and strident colours, inspired by the work of the fauves. Some South Caucasian Medieval traditional art can also be seen to influence his work. In his canvases, one sees intense colour saturation juxtaposed with dramatic and bold shapes.  Even when painting landscapes, Avetisyan broke through to q freedom of aesthetical self-expression, approaching the contemporary Russian “rough style”, even though in general he was more sympathetic to to the French modern and early avant-garde style of the early 20th century. Minas was also a success as a theatrical artist (theatre set design of Khachaturian’s “Gayane” ballet at the Opera and Ballet Theatre, 1974) and as a monumental painter (factory interior wall-paintings in Leninakan- Gyumri, 1970-1974).

The painting above from 1961 is titled “Toujours vie” (Still Life) and shows the fauve/expressionistic style of Avetisyan’s work. Unfortunately, many of the artist’s paintings were destroyed in a fire in 1972. On January 1 during the night, while Avetisyan was in Jajur with his family, his studio in Yerevan burned down, along with many of his best canvases. Three years later, in 1975 part of his wall-paintings were destroyed during the earthquake in Leninakan (Gyumri) and also destroyed the Minas Avetisian museum in his native Jajur village.

EQUINOX ETC

“If your life at night is good, you think you have everything.” Euripides

In the northern hemisphere it is the autumnal equinox today and there is a full moon out, it is the day of the Autumn Moon Festival, while in the southern hemisphere it is the vernal equinox. It is also the second day of the Jewish Sukkot Festival. Sukkot is a Hebrew word meaning “booths” or “huts” and refers to the Jewish festival of giving thanks for the autumn harvest, as well as the commemoration of the forty years of Jewish wandering in the desert after Sinai. Sukkot is celebrated five days after Yom Kippur on the 15th of Tishrei and is marked by several distinct traditions. One tradition, which takes the commandment to “dwell in booths” (Leviticus 23:42–43) literally, is to build a sukkah (a booth or hut). A sukkah is often erected by Jews during this festival, and it is a common practice for some to eat and even live in these temporary dwellings during Sukkot.

Tradition calls for one family to enter the sukkah, recite the Motzi prayer over the meal to be eaten, and then add a special blessing: “Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech haolam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu leishev basukah.” - Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, who has sanctified us through Your mitzvot and commanded us to dwell in the sukkah. Another custom of Sukkot involves extending hospitality, especially to the needy. Tradition is that there are certain guests of the festival, ushpizin, who are present in spirit in every sukkah: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and David. In addition, many Jews will invite guests outside of their families to join them for a holiday meal.

There are two more symbols associated with Sukkot that deserve attention. Lulav is a Hebrew word meaning “palm branch” and refers to a unique ceremonial object associated with the holiday of Sukkot. Lulav is also a generic term, describing a three-sectioned holder with a single palm branch in the center, two willow branches on the left, and three myrtle branches on the right. Etrog is a Hebrew word meaning “citron,” and refers to the special lemon-like fruit used in conjunction with the lulav in the Sukkot ritual.

Euripides, the ancient Greek dramatist was born in 484 BC on this day. He wrote some 90 plays, of which 17 survive complete, while another 17 survive as fragments. He is one of the foremost of the ancient Greek tragedians and his plays are often about women in tragic situations (e.g. Medea) and his plots are very realistic and concentrate on the situations that elicit violent emotional reactions from them. He was criticised fro his often used device of deus ex machina where a god or goddess appears at the play’s end to provide a contrived solution to an intractable problem… Towards the end of his life, he accepted the invitation of King Archelaus I of Macedon and stayed with him in Macedonia, allegedly dying there in 406 B.C. after being accidentally attacked by the king's hunting dogs while walking in the woods.

The plant for the birthdays falling on this day is the common field mushroom, Agaricus campestris. Because some poisonous mushrooms may resemble the edible ones, the mushroom in the language of flowers suggests the meaning “suspicion”.  This confusion is also at the bottom of the warning couplets:
    When the moon is at the full,
    Mushrooms you may freely pull;
    When the moon is on the wane,
    Wait ere you think to pluck again!
The Welsh call poisonous mushrooms bwyd ellyllon = “meat of the goblins”.  Fairy rings, are the term given to the ring of mushrooms that form as the spores are ejected from around the rim of the fruiting body of the parent fungus, in the belief that they arose from the feet of fairies dancing in a circle.  Dreaming of gathering mushrooms is an indication of the lack of attachment on the part of a partner.  Astrologically, the mushroom is under the dominion of Mercury in the sign of Leo.

In Japan the autumnal equinox is termed Higan, meaning the “other shore”, implying heaven. Buddhists will pray in temples and in cemeteries for the souls of the dead in ceremonies reminiscent of All Souls’ Day.

Today is also the national day of Armenia and Saudi Arabia!

Armenia is the smallest of the 15 republics of the former USSR that gained its independence in 1991.  It is about 30,000 square km in area with a population of 4 million people.  It is East of Turkey and North of Georgia. The capital city is Yerevan with other main centres being Karaklis, Kumayri and Kamo.  It is a mountainous, landlocked country with small but fertile regions of arable land.  The main industry is machine-building with chemicals and textiles also contributing to the economy.  Farming and raising of sheep, goats and cattle is also important.

Saudi Arabia is the largest country of the arid Arabian Peninsula. It became independent in 1913 after the occupying Turks were expelled. It has an area of 2.4 million square km and a population of 15 million people. The country is extremely arid with no permanent rivers and very low rainfall, extremely hot in the Summer. In the mountainous West there is sparse vegetation and it is only in the coastal oases that date palms and cereal crops flourish. The economy is dominated by oil, which is Saudi Arabia’s major export and source of wealth. The petrodollars pay for irrigation schemes and land reclamation projects intended to raise food production. The capital city is Riyadh with other major cities being Mecca, Jeddah, Medina, Ta’if, Najran and Abha. Every year, hundreds of thousands of Muslims from all over the world converge on Mecca to complete the “Hajj”, or visit, which every devout Muslim must make at least once in their life.

VERNAL EQUINOX

“There is no reality except the one contained within us.” - Hermann Hesse

Astronomically speaking, today is the first day of Spring in the Southern hemisphere as yesterday we had our vernal equinox. On this point of the earth’s trajectory around the sun, the sun is situated at a point directly above the equator at noon. Night and day are equal and beyond that the days begin to lengthen and the nights to become shorter as we progress towards summer. In the Northern hemisphere, the opposite occurs of course, as the autumnal equinox heralds autumn and the shortening of the days and lengthening of nights as winter approaches. In Japan the autumnal equinox is termed Higan, meaning the “other shore”, implying heaven. Buddhists will pray in temples and in cemeteries for the souls of the dead in ceremonies reminiscent of All Souls’ Day.

The day today was more wintry than spring-like in Melbourne, with rain, cold and grey skies giving us the last taste of winter before he leaves us. At work I was quite busy, catching up after my time away from the office – work tends to accumulate when one is away and it takes some time before one catches up. I had a record number of emails yesterday and today and I tried to deal with all 200 or so of them, but it was an impossible task. I had to answer the urgent ones and the rest remained to be dealt with later. A couple of meetings, several memos to write and the day ended before I quite knew it.

Today is the national day of Armenia, which is the smallest of the 15 republics of the former USSR. It gained its independence in 1991. It is about 30,000 square km in area with a population of 4 million people. It is East of Turkey and North of Georgia. The capital city is Yerevan with other main centres being Karaklis, Kumayri and Kamo. It is a mountainous, landlocked country with small but fertile regions of arable land. The main industry is machine-building with chemicals and textiles also contributing to the economy. Farming and raising of sheep, goats and cattle is also important.

MOVIE MONDAY - ARARAT

“In such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, not to be on the side of the executioners.” – Albert Camus

Last weekend we watched a 2002 Canadian/French film, Atom Egoyan’s “Ararat”. The film unites several stories quite successfully and is partly a vehicle for the retelling of the Armenian genocide of 1915, partly a film about Arshile Gorky (1904?-1948), an Armenian painter who lived through the genocide in Turkey and migrated to America and also the story of a director making a film about Armenia and the genocide.

Gorky’s last few years were miserable and riddled with disease and mishap, causing him to commit suicide at the age of 45 years in Connecticut, this being significant in the film’s plot. The film’s story is set in Toronto, where Ani, an art historian (Arsinée Khanjian) investigates the life and art of Gorky. She is of Armenian heritage and is immersed in Gorky’s story on several levels. Her son, the young Raffi (David Alpay) is in love with his step-sister, who blames Ani for the suicide of her father.

In parallel with this story is that of an ageing customs inspector (Christopher Plummer) who is on the cusp of retirement. He has a stormy relationship with his son and in order to patch things up he tries to explain his world-view to him by recounting the story of a long interview he had with Raffi, whom he apprehended when he returned from Turkey carrying canisters of exposed film. Supposedly, the film is footage that Raffi has shot in the region of Mount Ararat, to be included in a film about the Armenian genocide that is being made by the famous director Saroyan (played by Charles Aznavour, himself of Armenian heritage).

The film within a film theme brings together the characters and plot elements quite adroitly, but there is some challenging and confronting images of the genocide that will make many viewers recoil in horror. Turkey still refuses to recognise the events of 1915 as genocide which is what Armenians and over twenty other countries call the massive exterminations that took place at that time. In any case the Armenian “Great Calamity” was the cause of the Armenian diaspora and is in any case a flagrant abuse of human rights by the precursor to the Turkish state, the Ottoman Empire.

The film explores several themes, most of them quite melancholy and serious. The relationship between parents and estranged children, suicide, genocide, war crimes, the falsification of history, propaganda, incest, drug trafficking, and artistic inspiration. The film is one which is highly controversial and some people regard it as a masterpiece, while others view it as a flawed piece of cinematic pro-Armenian propaganda. Some people regard it as a trivialisation of an important historical event. I am glad I saw the film, even if it was quite confronting and in some parts badly patched together. It was quite complex and operated at multiple levels, some more successfully than others. Do see it, unless violent images shock you or disturb you.