Armenian Illuminated Manuscripts

The Armenian tradition of illuminating and illustrating hand written manuscripts dates as far back as the seventh century and continued to flourish under royal patronage in the kingdom of Cilicia in the tenth and eleventh centuries. In this video, Professor Christina Maranci explores the range of functions that these manuscripts served—from modest personal devotion to more lavishly illustrated displays of elite status of patrons. A closer examination of illuminated manuscripts reveals a wealth of artistic traditions and influences that have been absorbed, rethought, and integrated into a distinctively Armenian iconography, one that speaks to Armenian religious and liturgical practices and that has endured as an affirmation of Armenian identity through the centuries.

Originally published October 2017.

About the speaker

Christina Maranci

Dr. Christina Maranci is Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and the Department of the History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University. Her work explores the art and culture of Armenia in all aspects, but with special emphasis on the late antique and medieval periods. Her books include The Art of Armenia (Oxford University Press, 2018), Vigilant Powers: Three Churches of Early Medieval Armenia (Brepols, 2015), and Medieval Armenian Architecture: Constructions of Race and Nation (Peeters, 2001). Her articles and essays have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Revue des études arméniennes, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Gesta, the Journal for the Society of Architectural Historians, the Art Bulletin, the Oxford Companion to Architecture, the Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Apollo, The Conversation, and Hyperallergic. She is also active in the preservation of Armenian cultural heritage, with a focus on the at-risk Armenian churches and monasteries in what is now Eastern Turkey.

Christina Maranci