Revival After a Century – Photos of Arabkir and Erzurum (Video)

The documentary film “Revival after a century” tells about George Djerdjian’s latest book which presents photos of his hometown and college taken by his grandfather.

Between 1900 to 1907, Grigor Djerdjian (1870-1947) – the grandfather of the author of the book – took about 240 photos of his hometown Arabkir and a college in the city of Erzurum where he had studied. Unfortunately, only 100 of them remained.

These photos reflect the life of our people which would disappear from its historic homeland Western Armenia in about a decade. A variety of photos are presented under various headings: water, land, people, churches, schools, as well as economic, social, and political life.

For more than a century, the photos were kept in a gray steel box which had been transported from Arabkir to Alexandria (Egypt). It would remain there for about 50 years.

The descendants of Grigor Djerdjian brought the box to Khartoum (Sudan) where it would be kept for 20 years, then to London (England) for another 30 years, and then to Washington (USA) for 10 years. After a century of oblivion, these photographs were rediscovered.

Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Hayk Demoyan notes: “This is a unique collection that has preserved not only the everyday life of the Djerdjian family but also the memories of an entire nation.

This is a part of our history, our common heritage. Each photo depicting the life of Western Armenians looks like a mosaic. By putting this mosaic together, we can imagine life in Western Armenia before the genocide of 1915.”

In 2014, George Djerdjian presented the collection and some documents of his grandfather to the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. In the near future, the Museum-Institute would organize a temporary exhibition entitled “Western Armenia through the eyes of Grigor Djerdjian.”

Daylight After a Century a glimpse into pre 1915 Ottoman Armenia