The Russian Academy Of Arts

The Russian Academy of Arts invites you to attend a presentation of a new book by the Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Alexei Lidov “The Wall Paintings of Akhtala monastery. History. Iconography, Masters” (M. Dmitry Pozharsky University Publishing House, 2014 (552 pages, 220 illustrations), that will take place in the White Hall of the Russian Academy of Arts, 21 Prechistenka street, Moscow.

The book deals with the major monument of the medieval monumental painting on the territory of Armenia.  The wall paintings produced in the early 13th century  belong to unique masterpieces of the Eastern Orthodox Art. This is the first comprehensive study and fundamental publication of the great monument of the Byzantine tradition. The work on the book started in the second half of the 1980th and has been completed just now. In the process of study it has been proved, that the wall paintings are the result of joint work of Armenian, Greek and Georgian masters. The phenomenon in general can be understood only in the context of an original art culture of Armenians-Chalcedonians (Armenians whose confession was Greek and Georgian Orthodoxy), that appeared at the intersection of Armenian, Georgian and Byzantine tradition. The Akhtala monastery has been a main center for Armenians-Chalcedonians in the Northern Armenia, which establishment owes much to the Armenian Ivane Mkhargrdzeli (Zakharid) who got the Georgian religion and was a military leader of tsarina Tamara and the ruler of re-conquered Armenian lands. Of major interest in the book is the study of a unique iconographic program which reflects both the new trends of the Byzantine art of the time and a special world view of Armenians-Chalcedonians.

The fundamental monograph has been published in Russian and English under the auspices of the Russian Foundation for Support to Education and Science, as well as under the aegis of the Russian Academy of Arts, University of Dmitry Pozharsky and Research Center for Eastern Christian culture.

Alexei Lidov is a Russian scholar, art historian, byzantinist, author of the concept of hierotopy (science of sacred spaces), Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, Head of Antiquity Department of the Institute of World Culture of the Moscow University, founder and director of the Research Center for Eastern Christian Culture.





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