Presentation of the book of A.M. LIDOV "PAINTINGS OF THE MONASTERY OF AHTAL. History, iconography, masters"

The presentation will take place on October 9, 2014 at 18:30

in the White Hall of the Russian Academy of Arts (Prechistenka, 21)

The book is dedicated to the largest monument of medieval monumental painting in Armenia. The murals created at the very beginning of the 13th century belong to the number of selected masterpieces of Eastern Christian art. This is the first comprehensive study and fundamental publication of the great monument of the Byzantine tradition. Work on the book began in the second half of the 80s of the last century and was completed only now. In the process of research, it was proved that Armenian, Greek and Georgian masters worked simultaneously on the creation of the murals. The phenomenon as a whole can be understood only in the context of the special artistic culture of the Armenian Chalkedonites (Armenians professing "Greek-Georgian" Orthodoxy) that arose at the intersection of the Armenian, Georgian and Byzantine traditions. Plindzakhank (Akhtala) Monastery was the main center of the Armenian Chalkedonites in Northern Armenia, in the creation of which a huge role was played by Ivane Mkhargrdzeli (Zakharid), who switched to the “Georgian faith”, was the commander of Queen Tamara and ruler of the conquered Armenian lands. A large place in the book is occupied by the study of a unique iconographic program, which reflects both the latest trends of the Byzantine art of the era and the special worldview of the Armenian Chalkedonites.

The fundamental monograph in Russian and English was published with the assistance of the Russian Foundation for the Support of Education and Science and under the auspices of the Russian Academy of Arts, Dmitry Pozharsky University and the Center for Research in Eastern Christian Culture.

At the presentation, those who wish can purchase the book at the lowest publishing price.

Alexei Mikhailovich Lidov - Russian scientist, historian and art theorist, Byzantologist and religious scholar, author of the concept of hierotopy (science of sacred spaces). Full member of the Russian Academy of Arts, head of the antiquities department of the Institute of World Culture of Moscow State University, founder and director of the Scientific Center for East Christian Culture.