GEVORK BASHINJAGHIAN (1857-1925)
Mount Ararat (5,137 m- 16,854ft)
Turkey (since 1921)
In 1912 - National Museum of Fine Arts Erevan (Armenia)
The mountain
There are two mountains in the world called Mont Ararat, One in Turkey, one in United States of America (Pennsylvania). The one we are talking about is Mount Ararat in Turkey, which has a very long and complex political, religious, sacred and mythical history.
Mount Ararat
(5,137 m- 16,854ft) (Turkish: Ağrı Dağı; Armenian: Մասիս, Masis) is a snow-capped and dormant stratovolcano in the eastern extremity of Turkey. It consists of two major volcanic cones: Greater Ararat, the highest peak in Turkey and the Armenian plateau with an elevation of 5,137 m (16,854 ft); and Little Ararat, with an elevation of 3,896 m (12,782 ft). The Ararat massif is about 40 km (25 mi) in diameter and is part of the range of Armenian Highlands.
Mountains of Ararat have been perceived as the traditional resting place of Noah's Ark since the 11th century. It is the principal national symbol of Armenia and has been considered a sacred mountain by Armenians. It is featured prominently in Armenian literature and art and is an icon for Armenian irredentism. Along with Noah's Ark, it is depicted on the coat of arms of Armenia.
Mount Ararat forms a near-quadripoint between Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran. Its summit is located some 16 km (10 mi) west of both the Iranian border and the border of the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan, and 32 km (20 mi) south of the Armenian border. The Turkish–Armenian–Azerbaijani and Turkish–Iranian–Azerbaijani tripoints are some 8 km apart, separated by a narrow strip of Turkish territory containing the E99 road which enters Nakhchivan at 39.6553°N 44.8034°E.
From the 16th century until 1828 Great Ararat's summit and the northern slopes, along with the eastern slopes of Little Ararat were part of Persia, while the range was part of the Ottoman-Persian border. Following the 1826–28 Russo-Persian War and the Treaty of Turkmenchay, the Persian controlled territory was ceded to the Russian Empire. Little Ararat became the point where the Turkish, Persian, and Russian imperial frontiers converged.
The current international boundaries were formed throughout the 20th century. The mountain came under Turkish control during the 1920 Turkish–Armenian War. It formally became part of Turkey according to the 1921 Treaty of Moscow and Treaty of Kars. By the Tehran Convention of 1932, a border change was made in Turkey's favor, allowing it to occupy the eastern flank of Lesser Ararat.The Iran-Turkey boundary skirts east of Lesser Ararat, the lower peak of the Ararat massif.
The nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) party claims eastern Turkey (Western Armenia) as part of what it considers United Armenia. The Armenian government has not made official claims to any Turkish territory,however the Armenian government has avoided "an explicit and formal recognition of the existing Turkish-Armenian border." According to Turkish political scientist Bayram Balci, regular references to the Armenian Genocide and Mount Ararat "clearly indicates" that the border with Turkey in contested in Armenia.
In a 2010 interview with Der Spiegel, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan was asked:
"You can see Mount Ararat, Armenia's national symbol, from the windows of your residence. Today, the mountain is inaccessible, on the other side of the Turkish border. Turkey fears demands for land and compensation. Do you want Mount Ararat back?" Sargsyan, in response, said:
"No one can take Mount Ararat from us; we keep it in our hearts. Wherever Armenians live in the world today, you will find a picture of Mount Ararat in their homes. And I feel certain that a time will come when Mount Ararat is no longer a symbol of the separation between our peoples, but an emblem of understanding. But let me make this clear: Never has a representative of Armenia made territorial demands. Turkey alleges this—perhaps out of its own bad conscience?
Ascents of Mount Ararat
The first efforts to reach Ararat's summit were made in the Middle Ages. In 13th century, William of Rubruck wrote that
"Many have tried to climb it, but none has been able."
However, it was not until 1829 when Friedrich Parrot and Khachatur Abovian, accompanied with four others, made the first recorded ascent. Parrot and Abovyan, one high-ranking Armenian Apostolic Church clergyman commented that to climb the sacred mountain was
"to tie the womb of the mother of all mankind in a dragonish mode." By contrast, in the 21st century to climb Ararat is "the most highly valued goal of some of the patriotic pilgrimages that are organized in growing number from Armenia and the Armenian diaspora."
The first recorded ascent of the mountain in the modern times took place on 9 October [O.S. 27 September] 1829. The Baltic German naturalist Friedrich Parrot of the University of Dorpat arrived at Etchmiadzin in mid-September 1829, almost two years after Russian capture of Erivan, for the single purpose of exploring Ararat. The prominent Armenian writer Khachatur Abovian, then a deacon and translator at Etchmiadzin, was assigned by Catholicos Yeprem, the head of the Armenian Church, as interpreter and guide. Abovian and Parrot crossed the Aras River and headed to the Armenian village of Agori situated on the northern slope of Ararat 1,220 metres (4,000 ft) above sea level. They set up a base camp at the Monastery of Saint Jacob some 730 metres (2,400 ft) higher, at an elevation of 1,943 metres (6,375 ft). After two failed attempts, they reached the summit on their third attempt at 3:15 p.m. on October 9, 1829. The group included Parrot, Abovian, two Russian (Cossack) soldiers—Alexei Zdorovenko and Matvei Chalpanov, and two Armenian Agori villagers—Hovannes Aivazian, and Murat Poghossian. Parrot measured the elevation at 5,250 metres (17,220 ft) using a mercury barometer. This was not only the first ascent of Ararat, but also the second highest elevation climbed by man up to that date outside of Mount Licancabur in the Chilean Andes. Abovian dug a hole in the ice and erected a wooden cross facing north. Abovian also picked up a chunk of ice from the summit and carried it down with him in a bottle, considering the water holy. On 8 November [O.S. 27 October] 1829, Parrot and Abovian together with the Agori hunter Sahak’s brother Hago, acting as a guide climbed up Lesser Ararat.
Mount Ararat and Noe
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ATHANASIUS KIRCHER (1602-16680)
- Topography of Paradise as pictured in Arca Noë (1675).
In the northeast, in the mountains above Armenia stands Mount Ararat,
shown with a rectangular-shaped ark on the summit |
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JOSEPH PITTON DE TOURNEFORT (1656-1708)
Mount Ararat as seen from Ejmiatsin
in A voyage into the Levant |
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IVAN AIVAZOVZKY (1817-1900)
Descent of Noah from Ararat (1889)
National Gallery of Armenia |
According to the fourth verse of the eighth chapter of the Book of Genesis (Genesis 8:4) following a flood, Noah's Ark landed on the "mountains of Ararat" (Biblical Hebrew: הָרֵי אֲרָרָט, ).[65) Most historians and Bible scholars agree that "Ararat" is the Hebrew name of Urartu, the geographic predecessor of Armenia and referred to the wider region at the time and not the mountain today known as Ararat. The phrase is translated as "mountains of Armenia" (montes Armeniae) in the Vulgate, the fourth century Latin translation of the Bible. Nevertheless, Mount Ararat is considered the traditional site of the resting place of the Noah's Ark and most Christians prefer this view "largely because it would have been the first peak to emerge from the receding flood waters." It has therefore been called a biblical mountain.
According to Arnold, Mount Ararat has been associated with the Genesis flood story since the 11-12th centuries. Bailey suggested that the local Armenian population began to identify it as the ark's landing place in the 11-12th centuries. British orientalist F. C. Conybeare in his 1901 review of Friedrich Murad's book on Ararat wrote that the mountain was "a center and focus of pagan myths and cults [...] and it was only in the eleventh century, after these had vanished from the popular mind, that the Armenian theologians ventured to locate on its eternal snows the resting-place of Noah's ark." Fischer and Drs. Lee Spencer and Jean Luc Lienard name the 13th century Franciscan missionary William of Rubruck as the earliest reference for the tradition of Mount Ararat as the landing place of the ark in European literature. The 14th century English traveler John Mandeville is another early author who mentioned Mount Ararat, "where Noah's ship rested, and it is still there."
Searches for Noah's Ark have traditionally concentrated on Mount Ararat. Augustin Calmet wrote in his 1722 biblical dictionary, "It is affirmed, but without proof, that there are still remains of Noah's ark on the top of this mountain; but M. de Tournefort, who visited this spot, has assured us there was nothing like it; that the top of mount Ararat is inaccessible, both by reason of its great height, and of the snow which perpetually covers it."
Despite numerous reports of ark sightings (e.g. Ararat anomaly) and rumors, "no scientific evidence of the ark has emerged." Searches for Noah's Ark are considered by scholars an example of pseudoarchaeology. Kenneth Feder writes, "As the flood story itself is unsupported by any archaeological evidence, it is not surprising that there is no archaeological evidence for the existence of an impossibly large boat dating to 5,000 years ago."
The Painter
Quite a lot of painters painted MountArarat since the Middle age. Among the numerous représentations avalaible on the web nowadays, this blog has choosen the on by Gevorg Bashinjaghian, an Armenian painter who had significant influence on Armenian landscape painting.
Bashinjaghian was born in 1857 in eastern Georgian province of Kakheti, part of the Russian Empire at the time. In 1878, Bashinjaghian moved to the Russian capital St. Petersburg, where he became a student at the Imperial Academy of Arts a year later. Mikhail Clodt was one of his teachers. He graduated from the Academy in 1883, also winning a silver medal for his Birch Grove. He returned to his hometown Sighnaghi the same year and soon started to travel throughout the Caucasus: Lake Sevan, Yerevan, Ashtarak and the holy capital of the Armenian Church - Ejmiatsin, Georgia and the Northern Caucasus, which caused the artist to make a row of canvas of the local landscapes. During the next year, Bashinjaghian visited Italy and Switzerland, where he learnt about the classic European art and also saw the Alps. He later wrote that
"the Alps are beautiful, but they cannot win your heart if you have seen the Caucasus."
He returned to Russia and settled in Tiflis, the largest city of the Caucasus and the cultural center of Armenians of Russia. In 1890s Bashinjaghian had exhibitions in Moscow, Odessa, St. Petersburg and Novocherkassk. In 1897, he created a series of oil painting of Ani, the medievial Armenian capital of thousand churches. From 1899 to 1901, Bashinjaghian lived in Paris with his wife Ashkhen Katanian and their three children. In France, he made a trip throughout the country and produced over 30 paintings.[2] In 1923 Bashinjaghian became a member of the Armenian Artists' Society.
Bashinjaghian died on 1925 in Tiflis and was buried at the side of Sayat-Nova's tomb in the backyard of Saint George Cathedral.
Exhibitions of Bashinjaghian's works were held in Yerevan, Moscow St. Petersburg and Riga, many of them in 1957-1958, in memory of the 100th anniversary of his birth.
A street in Yerevan is named after him.
