The Armenian art of manuscript illumination survived 14 centuries, from the Vth till the XIXth century. Starting from the Vth century, after the creation of the Armenian alphabet by Mesrop Mashtots in 405, Armenia experiences the flowering of literature, both translated and original. The boom was soon reflected in the art of the miniature.
Many manuscripts, especially those dated back to the early period, did not survive till our time. During the centuries Armenia was often a hostility arena. The country was suffering from the armies of foreign invaders and was subject to violent devastation. All these lead to the destruction of the ancient Armenian literary monuments, among which there were many magnificently illuminated codices. However the people that always had a deep love and respect to a book, selflessly strove to preserve its spiritual values. In difficult times of foreign occupations refugees, escaping from enemies, carried books with them as the most precious belonging or dug big and heavy volumes under the ground to find them again when they were back. Book was cherished, bought out for a lot of money, people tried to return It to the temple where It belonged.
Most of the illuminated manuscripts that survived till nowadays have the spiritual meaning. The reasons for that are the close relationship between medieval art and religion and a very protective attitude towards the sacred manuscripts.
Miniature was painted with Kalam, a sharpened reed stick, or with an “eternal” pen which had a bulge for ink storage. To make a sketch, the artist used ruler and pair of compasses and marked the initial outline with cinnabar or ochre. Then he covered certain parts of the drawing with gouache. Paints were made out of herbs, minerals (yellow, red, brown), colored soil, metal oxides (blue, green) or imported (lapis lazuli). The famous purple was made out of worm (vortan karmir). It gave a lot of other tints as well. Vegetable glue (for gouache) or sometimes an egg (for tempera) were used as a binding agent. Gold-leaves was used in miniatures of the XIIth century. Books were given leather covers, often decorated with precious golden, silver or sometimes ivory frameworks. These frameworks almost did not survive till our times due to their pure material value.
In the VIIth century Armenia was occupied by Arabs, who subdued also other countries of the Middle East: Iran, Middle Asia, Caucasus, rich provinces of Byzantine Empire – Syria, Palestine, Egypt – they seized Northern Africa and a part of Spain. Many early Armenian codices did not survive the times of the Arab sway as well as the times of winning back the freedom from the Arabs.
The post-Arabic period is the time of the rise and flourishing of the Syuniq kingdom, one of the largest provinces of the historical Armenia. Liberation from the Arab yoke and the political independence attained by a number of Armenian feudal lords brought about long years of peace and favored the economic and cultural revival of the country. The monastery of Tatev became the center of this new life in the country. Those times the foundation for the famous Tatev school of miniature was laid down.
In the 40′s of the XIII century, Armenia was subjected to other raids; this time the Mongols invaded the country. The cruel Mongolian yoke, lasting more than a hundred years, caused tremendous damage to the prospering towns and the developed agriculture.
During this widespread decline in Armenia, Syuniq was one of those regions enjoying relatively favorable conditions. The advantageous position of Syuniq was conditioned by the clever diplomacy of the noble families, the Orbelians and the Proshians. Beginning from the middle of the XIIIth century, the Orbelians managed to improve their position in Syuniq, secure privileges and ensure peace in that region for some decades. While a wave of migration swept over the various regions of Armenia, it was quite the contrary in Syuniq. Refugees from other regions, robbed and plundered, moved to Syuniq in the hope of safety.
All that, in turn, created favorable conditions for the development of culture. During the XIII – XIV centuries, the creative activities of many skilled architects, sculptors, talented poets and painters unfolded in the cultural centers of Syuniq.
Overall, fortunately, a large number of Armenian manuscripts are preserved, nearly 30,000, dating from the IXth to the XIXth centuries, and produced in every region inhabited by Armenians.
The manuscripts and the works of art they contain are preserved in public museums and libraries, the most important of which are the Matenadaran in Erevan (11,000 whole manuscripts), the Library of the Mekhitarist Brotherhood at San Lazzaro, Venice (4,000), Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem (4,000), the Library of the Mekhitarist Brotherhood in Vienna (1,200), the Armenian Catholic Monastery of Bzummar in Lebanon (1,000), the Armenian Monastery at New Julfa, Isfahan (1,000) and important collections of fewer than 1,000 manuscripts are kept at the Catholicossate of Etchmiadzin, the Oriental Institute, Leningrad, the Bibliothèque nationale, Paris, Bodleian Library, Oxford, the British Library, London, the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, the Catholicossate of Cilicia, Antelias, University of California, Los Angeles, and the Vatican Library. Hundreds of other libraries have small, but artistically very important, collections, for instance the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, the Pierpoint Morgan Museum in New York, the Walters Gallery in Baltimore, and the John Rylands Library in Manchester.
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