All About Armenia
Who is Armenia’s greatest composer? Many would say Aram Khachaturian – for what other Armenian composer has the rest of the world even heard of? Yet ask the same question of any Armenian, and you will probably hear the name Komitas. Who was the composer Komitas? Komitas, too, was an Armenian composer, albeit of a different …
Saint Gregory the Illuminator or Enlightener (previously known as Grigor Lusavorich, c. 239 – c. 330 CE) was the first bishop of the Armenian church, and he is widely credited with converting king Tiridates the Great to Christianity, formally establishing the Armenian Church, and spreading that religion throughout his country. Saint Gregory is the patron saint of Armenia. Early Life …
Movses Khorenatsi (Moses of Khoren) was a 5th-century CE Armenian historian whose work the History of the Armenians has earned him the title of the “father of Armenian history”. Drawing on ancient sources and ambitiously covering the history of his country up to his own lifetime, Movses’ work has been instrumental in helping to create a sense of continuous …
French-Armenian artist Zareh Moutafian, born March 15, 1907 / He subsequently became a prolific art critic. He owns the saying: “Armenianized the sea”, in which he meant the work of Ivan Aivazovsky. Moutafian was 8 years old when his family was massacred in the Black Sea town of Unye. He was left for dead, and found …
One of the smallest, yet most valuable house-museums in Yerevan is dedicated to Martiros Sarian, the founder of the national school of modern Armenian painting. A visit to the museum in the center of the city reveals the rich legacy of one of the greatest painters of the 20th century, whose paintings are characterized by …
Charles Aznavour is perhaps the best-known French music hall entertainer in the world — renowned the world over for the bittersweet love songs he has written and sung, which seem to embody the essence of French popular song, and also for his appearances on screen in such wildly divergent fare as Shoot the Piano Player, …
Armenians have a rich tradition of being royal architects of the Ottoman empire. Take for example the Balyan family, a prominent Armenian family of Ottoman court architects in the service of sultans for two centuries. However, the ethnic background of the empire’s most outstanding architect “Mimar Sinan” is disputed. There are multiple claims regarding Sinan’s …
BOSTON — Noted writer, editor and political activist Arpiar Arpiarian wrote in his 1898 obituary of the artist Bedros Srabian, whose works had already begun to be lost, that “…what survives only is the memory in the hearts of friends who loved him, a memory inscribed in a newspaper article, until the day when these friends …
Among all the bottiers and shoemakers gone abroad after the diaspora following WWI, the most prominent became Sarkis Der Balian, a native of Aintab in Cilicia. One of the many orphaned children, he learned the trade in the postwar period with the shoemaker who took care of him and, when grown up, set off for …
Mkrtich Khirmian stands as a giant among the religious leaders of the Armenian nation. His name is inseparable from our people’s struggle for national liberation. Khrimian was called Hayrik (diminutive for ‘Father’) by the Armenians, who saw in him a devoted shepherd who could guide his flock through the difficult terrain of Ottoman and Russian …
A talented journalist who published the first Turkish humor magazine in the Ottoman Empire, Hagop Baronian was also an important playwright in the Ottoman and Armenian theater known as the ‘Moliere of Armenians’ – By Daily Sabah It has been more than a century since the death of sharp-tongued satirist Hagop Baronian. However, the literary …
Kegham Djeghalian opened the first photography studio in Gaza in 1944. His grandson talks about his grandfather’s legacy hen Kegham Djeghalian stumbled upon three red boxes tucked away and forgotten in his father’s wardrobe in Cairo three years ago, he couldn’t believe his luck. The boxes contained the negatives of more than 1,000 photographs taken …
The nation lost a tycoon’s priceless collection to Portugal 50 years ago. At last, the treasures are coming to London, reports Alice O’Keeffe When the National Gallery turned down a priceless bequest from the oil tycoon Calouste Gulbenkian in 1950, Britain was deprived of one of the most significant art collections in the world. Paintings …
Yousuf Karsh, also called Karsh of Ottawa, (born December 23, 1908, Mardin, Ottoman Empire—died July 13, 2002, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.), Armenian Canadian photographer known for his portraits of important and famous men and women of politics, Hollywood, and the arts, from Albert Einstein and Sir Winston Churchill to Walt Disney and Grace Kelly. As an …
Narses, (born c. 480, Armenia—died 574, probably Rome or Constantinople), Byzantine general under Emperor Justinian I; his greatest achievement was the conquest of the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy for Byzantium. A eunuch, Narses became commander of the imperial bodyguard of eunuchs and eventually rose to be grand chamberlain. When rioting broke out in Constantinople in …
Armenians are an ancient nation whose sons and daughters have made quite an impact on the human history. Science, art, politics, finance – you’d be hard pressed to find a field, in which Armenian men and women don’t thrive. Their talents have made our world a much better place, so here are their names for …
Baglivi Georgius (b. Republic of Dubrovnik [now a part of Yugoslavia], 8 September 1668; d Rome, Italy, 15 june 1707 biology. Baglivi’s family name was Armeno, which probably indicates that his father was of Armenian origin. His parents were Blasius Armeno and Anna de Lupis, repectable but poor merchants who both died in 1670; Georgius and his …
Mr Five Per Cent by Jonathan Conlin review – the world’s richest man The story of the buccaneering Calouste Gulbenkian, wealthy oilman, who anticipated today’s unfettered global tycoons What does the life of an Ottoman-born ethnic Armenian oil tycoon have to teach us about the modern world? Quite a lot, it turns out, judging by …