DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43337#0331
328 | THE WALL PAINTINGS OF AKHTALA MONASTERY
cial team from the Moscow Institute of Restoration under the guidance
of Yury Grenberg, did much to promote their proper understanding.
The author of this monograph also participated in that work and en-
joyed the benefits of the physicochemical analysis, which included an
infrared and ultraviolet photography19.
THE CULTURAL CONTEXT AND AN ISSUE
OF THE CHALCEDONIAN ARMENIANS
Mention must also be made of an age-old controversy which to some ex-
tent has hindered the objective study of the paintings: should the murals
be included in the history of Georgian or Armenian art? In the Caucasian
republics this argument has been embraced by the general public, which
does little to promote the strictly academic study of the paintings. The au-
thor of the present work declines, as a matter of principle, to take part in
this discussion. He believes the Akhtala wall paintings belong to the special
culture of the Armenian Chalcedonians which combined several traditions
and can be examined from different viewpoints in the history of Armenian,
Georgian and Byzantine art20.
Nikolai Marr was the first, at the beginning of the century, to raise
the issue of the Armenian-Chalcedonians as a special phenomenon in
the history of the Christian East21. Subsequent works, among which
those of Paruir Muradian and Viada Arutiunova-Fidanian deserve
special mention, have published new facts supplementing our infor-
mation about the politics, ideology and culture of the Armenian-Chal-
cedonians22 23. Today specialists have fairly clear picture of the emer-
19See Grenberg Y.I., Pisareva SA The Murals of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Akhtala
in the light of the technological research //Artistic heritage. Vol. 14. Moscow, 1991, p. 63-88 -
In Russian, see Bibliography.
20 Lidov A.M. The art of Chalcedonian Armenians // Historical Philological Journal. AnArm SSR,
1990,1(128), p. 75-87. - In Russian, see Bibliography.
21 Marr N.Y. Arkaun, the Mongol Name for Christians, with Regard to Armenian Chalcedonians.
St. Petersburg, 1905. Marr’s articles on the Chalcedonian Armenians are collected in Marr N.Y.
Caucasian cultural world and Armenia. Yerevan, 1995. - In Russian, see Bibliography.
22 Muradian P.M. Cultural Activities of Armenian Chalcedonians in the llth-ijth Centuries //
Papers of the 2nd International Symposium on Armenian Art. Vol. Ill, Yerevan, 1981, pp. 325 —
335. Arutiunova-Fidanian V.A. Armenian Chalcedonians on the Eastern Frontiers of the Byzantine
Empire. Yerevan, 1960. - In Russian, see Bibliography.
23 The map of such dioceses was made by Arutiunova-Fidanian V.A.
cial team from the Moscow Institute of Restoration under the guidance
of Yury Grenberg, did much to promote their proper understanding.
The author of this monograph also participated in that work and en-
joyed the benefits of the physicochemical analysis, which included an
infrared and ultraviolet photography19.
THE CULTURAL CONTEXT AND AN ISSUE
OF THE CHALCEDONIAN ARMENIANS
Mention must also be made of an age-old controversy which to some ex-
tent has hindered the objective study of the paintings: should the murals
be included in the history of Georgian or Armenian art? In the Caucasian
republics this argument has been embraced by the general public, which
does little to promote the strictly academic study of the paintings. The au-
thor of the present work declines, as a matter of principle, to take part in
this discussion. He believes the Akhtala wall paintings belong to the special
culture of the Armenian Chalcedonians which combined several traditions
and can be examined from different viewpoints in the history of Armenian,
Georgian and Byzantine art20.
Nikolai Marr was the first, at the beginning of the century, to raise
the issue of the Armenian-Chalcedonians as a special phenomenon in
the history of the Christian East21. Subsequent works, among which
those of Paruir Muradian and Viada Arutiunova-Fidanian deserve
special mention, have published new facts supplementing our infor-
mation about the politics, ideology and culture of the Armenian-Chal-
cedonians22 23. Today specialists have fairly clear picture of the emer-
19See Grenberg Y.I., Pisareva SA The Murals of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Akhtala
in the light of the technological research //Artistic heritage. Vol. 14. Moscow, 1991, p. 63-88 -
In Russian, see Bibliography.
20 Lidov A.M. The art of Chalcedonian Armenians // Historical Philological Journal. AnArm SSR,
1990,1(128), p. 75-87. - In Russian, see Bibliography.
21 Marr N.Y. Arkaun, the Mongol Name for Christians, with Regard to Armenian Chalcedonians.
St. Petersburg, 1905. Marr’s articles on the Chalcedonian Armenians are collected in Marr N.Y.
Caucasian cultural world and Armenia. Yerevan, 1995. - In Russian, see Bibliography.
22 Muradian P.M. Cultural Activities of Armenian Chalcedonians in the llth-ijth Centuries //
Papers of the 2nd International Symposium on Armenian Art. Vol. Ill, Yerevan, 1981, pp. 325 —
335. Arutiunova-Fidanian V.A. Armenian Chalcedonians on the Eastern Frontiers of the Byzantine
Empire. Yerevan, 1960. - In Russian, see Bibliography.
23 The map of such dioceses was made by Arutiunova-Fidanian V.A.