FOLETTI, Ivan and Michaela KOVÁŘOVÁ. Sacralizing Armenian Landscape: Nature, Culture and War in the Writings of Step’annos Orbelian. In Shaped by Greed. Reflections and Impacts of Environmental Exploitationin European Visual Cultures 1200—1900. 2023.
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Basic information
Original name Sacralizing Armenian Landscape: Nature, Culture and War in the Writings of Step’annos Orbelian
Authors FOLETTI, Ivan and Michaela KOVÁŘOVÁ.
Edition Shaped by Greed. Reflections and Impacts of Environmental Exploitationin European Visual Cultures 1200—1900, 2023.
Other information
Original language English
Type of outcome Presentations at conferences
Field of Study 60401 Arts, Art history
Country of publisher Czech Republic
Confidentiality degree is not subject to a state or trade secret
WWW URL
Organization unit Faculty of Arts
Keywords in English Step’annos Orbelian; Landscape; Expoiting Nature; War; Armenian History; Church Looting
Tags International impact
Changed by Changed by: Alžběta Filipová, M.A., Ph.D., učo 203468. Changed: 28/3/2024 09:55.
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the way the transformation of natural sites into cultural spaces was perceived in medieval Armenia based on the analysis of the History of the State of Sisakan by the bishop and historian Step’annos Orbelian (ca. 1250–1304). Orbelian’s text begins with the classic topos of a conversion of a natural environment going “from desert to paradise” and describes how the monastic colonization transformed the natural, wild landscape into a prosperous place of culture and fertility. It is, however, clear from Orbelian’s words that this transformation also had an explicit impact on the concrete lives of the surrounding settlements: thanks to the monastic presence, these were protected from floods and bad weather. Thus, a religious and cultural foundation had a decisive impact a geosocial reality. After presenting Orbelian’s History, the present paper will attempt to reconstruct its cultural context. Secondly, an effort will be made to analyze preserved sites where the dialogue between nature and culture described by Orbelian can still be observed. Finally, we will propose an overview reading focused on the central theme of the conference: how specifically the natural and “wild” environment was shaped by human activities in the thirteenth-century Armenian context.
Links
GF21-01706L, research and development projectName: Kulturní dialogy v Jihokavkazském regionu ve středověku: historiografická a historicko-umělecká perspektiva (Acronym: CIMS)
Investor: Czech Science Foundation, Partner Agency
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