Categories: HistoryInteresting

The map of Armenia from Kircher’s Book “Noah’s Ark”

According to the map of Athanasius Kircher (sometimes erroneously spelled Kirchner) from the 1675 book “Noah’s Ark“, the Heaven was located near Ararat mount and the Armenian Upland, between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. Armenia was considered to be the whereabouts of the Paradise.

Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) was a German Jesuit scholar, erudite, philosopher, mathematician, theologian, astrologer who is called “the father of modern science”, “universal genius” and “master of hundreds of arts”.

Kircher studied in Köln (Cologne), Mainz and Würzburg. The disasters of the Thirty Years’ War that broke out in Germany forced him to leave his homeland. He moved first to Lyon and then to Avignon.

Afterwards through the mediation of the French humanist and scholar Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc Kircher was invited by the pope to Rome, where at the Roman College he has taught mathematics, physics and oriental languages for six years.

Vigen Avetisyan

Recent Posts

Hayasa-Azzi: A Powerful Armenian Kingdom of the Armenian Highlands

Among the earliest known states of the Armenian Highlands, few are as historically important as…

1 week ago

The Frescoes of Dadivank Monastery and the Misinterpretation of Heritage

The medieval monastery of Dadivank is one of the most important spiritual and artistic centers…

2 weeks ago

Armenian Orphan Girls in New York (1917): A Forgotten Act of Witness and Relief

In 1917, at the height of global upheaval during World War I, a small but…

3 weeks ago

The Armenian Genocide: State Crime, Mass Participation, and the Burden of Historical Responsibility

The Armenian Genocide (1915–1921 ...) was not an accident of war, nor a tragic byproduct…

3 weeks ago

The First Printed Armenian Bible (Amsterdam, 1666–1668)

Introduction The first printed edition of the Bible in the Armenian language stands as one…

4 weeks ago

Armenopolis (Gherla): An Armenian “Ideal City” in the Heart of Europe

Armenopolis (modern-day Gherla, Romania) is a remarkable example of how the Armenian diaspora not only…

4 weeks ago