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Armenia

A country in southwestern Asia: 29,800 sq. km. Population in 2004: 3,000,000. Capital: Yerevan
[image ALT: A view of most of a medium-sized church — the ground is not visible — comprising several roughly cubical sections, each surmounted by arched cupolas, the largest of which is twelve-sided. It is the cathedral of Etchmiadzin in Armenia.]

The icon I use to indicate this subsite is a cropped and colorized version of the photograph of the cathedral of Etchmiadzin that follows p432 of my edition of Kurkjian's History. Etchmiadzin is appropriately described by Kurkjian (pp120‑121) as "the holy city, as well as the intellectual center of the Armenian nation".

Gosh, there ought to be some intro text here. Well, for now, there is none — other than to alert you to the important Armenia resources listed at the bottom of this page — but I do have a large book for you to read:

[image ALT: An eight-pointed star flanked by birds. It is a motif associated with the Artaxiad royal dynasty of Armenia, and serves as an icon for this subsite.]

[ 526 pages of print presented as 59 webpages;
29 photos, 66 engravings ]

A History of Armenia by Vahan Kurkjian covers its topic from the Paleolithic to the mid‑20c. This being the Web, here and there I've added some useful links — and if I ever go to Armenia, there will be some better pictures, too.

[image ALT: zzz.]

[ 1 webpage: 11 pages of print, 7 illustrations ]

Frédéric Macler's "L'architecture arménienne dans ses rapports avec l'art syrien", a survey of the earliest Armenian buildings extant, clears some underbrush as to the mythical age of a few monuments, and traces their origin not to Islamic models as was frequently thought at the time (1920), but to pre-Islamic Syrian architecture.

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Site updated: 7 Feb 11