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Monuments of Armenian
Art from the Hermitage Collection The exhibition opened in the Apollo Hall of the Winter Palace is unique due to the beauty of the displayed objects. It introduces the key aspects of the Armenian people's spiritual heritage. The place of honor in the exhibit is given to the Skevr Reliquary, a masterpiece of chiseled silver executed in 1293 by the commission of the Father Superior of the Skevr Cloister of Constantin (Cilician Armenia). The reliquary has the form of a triptych, the most common in Armenia. To its wooden container are fastened gilt silver panels with chiseled images of the characters from the Old and New Testaments, Saints and historical figures. When the reliquary was acquired by the Imperial Hermitage in 1885, many parts of its silver coating were missing. In 1900 it was restored; the old wooden container was replaced with a new one to which the chiseled silver panels were fastened. The authentic central part containing the relics of Apostles Peter, Paul and Thaddeus and St. Gregory the Enlightener was solemnly placed in the Cathedral of the Winter Palace. After the 1917 Revolution it was removed from the Cathedral. On 12 July, 2000, the holy relics were passed by the State Hermitage Museum to the Armenian Church of St. Catherine in St. Petersburg. In 1940 the Hermitage received wonderful gifts from the Armenian Government: stone wall relief from the 14th century Church of Astvatsatsin Spitakavor (White Theotokos) depicting Eachi and Hasan II, Gospels in a silver mount written in 1325 in Genoa, illuminated Cilician Bible commissioned in the early 14th century by Smbat, son of the general Levon and the Vaspurakan Gospel of 1395 remarkable for the unique originality of its language. The Bible and Vaspurakan Gospel were revived in the restoration shops of the Hermitage. The Armenian Apostolic Church which believes that Jesus Christ had a single divine nature did not encourage painters to depict scenes which would conspicuously reveal Christ's human hypostasis. Crucifixion was interpreted in Armenia symbolically, as a cross without a figure. Cross was construed as a symbol of Christ and His triumph over death, as a symbol of salvation. This symbol found its expression in hachkars ("cross stones"), small architectural forms which have no analogies in other countries' art. They became popular in the 9th century. The hachkar from the Hermitage collection displayed in the exhibition dates back to the 13th or 14th century. Two exhibits come from the Crimea which housed one of the largest Armenian colonies. The carved wooden doors of the Cathedral of St. Sergius built in 1371 and the illuminated Gospels acquired in 2001 are monuments of this colony's golden age, the 14th century. The exhibition shows artifacts reflecting Russian-Armenian contacts of the 19th century. This is the illuminated Armenian Gospels presented by the Catholicos Gevorg IV to the Emperor Alexander II in 1880, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of this Emperor's ascension to the throne. The gilt silver mount for this first Armenian manuscript in the Hermitage collection was executed by the jeweler Sazikov of St. Petersburg. The displayed donation decree and diamond-laid golden pendant with the relics of St. George are also connected with the names of Alexander II and Gevorg IV. It is interesting that St. George is depicted on the pendant according to the Western iconographic tradition which is also reflected in the holy warrior's relief in the St. George (Big Throne) Hall of the Winter Palace where the first meeting between the Russian Emperor and the Armenian Catholicos took place. This may explain the preference given by the Catholicos to this iconography. |
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