ARMENIAN HERITAGE SITES IN TURKEY AND IRAN

ARMENIA’SHERITAGEINTURKEY
ARMENIANHERITAGEINIRAN
ARMENIANHERITAGEANDUNESCO
byVaheGabrielyan
Armenians take pride in quoting famous foreigners
who have called Armenia a museum under open
skies. Throughout a long and turbulent history, of
which at least over 3000 years have been
documentedtovariousextentinhistoricaltextsand
maps and even more in myths and folklore,
Armenians have succeeded in building kingdoms
and even empires with highly advanced social
structures and infrastructure, magnificent religious
andseculararchitectureandartsandcraftsthatstill
fascinate, amaze and enchant. Quite a lot of that
tangible heritage has been destroyed in wars and
naturaldisastersandmuchofwhatremainshasbeen
covered in the dust of time and is yet to be
unearthed.
Evenwhathassurvivedcanstillbeatestimonytothe
astonishing talent and skills of a nation that has
outlived many formidable hostile empires and
hordes of different eras. This book is neither a
textbookofArmenianhistory,norofArmenianarts,
neitherisitastudyofthoserealms.Thisissimplyan
attemptataguidetothatpartofArmeniancultural
heritage that has already been recognized and
appreciated by the rest of the family of nations.
Unlike that of many other nations, Armenian
heritage is not limited to the physical boundaries of
the state currently representing the nation, the
Republic of Armenia. At different times, Armenian
kingdoms and empires of the past centuries covered
anareaseveraltimesthatoftheRepublictoday,and
even as their country continued to reduce in size,
Armenians continued to live on their ancestral
lands, despite campaigns of massacres and genocide
against them. Therefore, monuments of Armenian
architecture can be found in abundance in
neighboring countries on historically Armenian
lands and in countries where Armenian Diaspora
communitieshavebeenestablished.
Armenian Heritage and UNESCO: Volume 1
and2–2017
https://www.amazon.com/Armenian-Heritage-
UNESCO-1-2/dp/9939018541
In July 2016, the ancient Armenian city of Ani, now
in eastern Turkey, was inscribed as a UNESCO
World Heritage site. For Armenians, a people still
living under the shadow of what they regard as "the
firstgenocideofthe20 th century”carriedoutagainst
their ancestors who lived under the Ottoman
Empire, the listing ensures protection of a small but
treasured piece of their heritage. But a visit to the
region today shows that, outside the walls of Ani,
what remains of Armenian culture in Turkey is in
dangerofdisappearingentirely.
The eastern part of the current territory of the
RepublicofTurkeyispartoftheancestralhomeland
of the Armenians. Along with the Armenian
population, during and after the Armenian
Genocide the Armenian cultural heritage was
targetedfordestructionbytheTurkishgovernment.
Of the several thousand churches and monasteries
(usually estimated from two to three thousand) in
the Ottoman Empire in 1914, today only a few
hundred are in still standing in some form; most of
these are in danger of collapse. Those that continue
tofunctionaremainlyinIstanbul.
Most of the properties formerly belonging to
Armenians were confiscated by the Turkish
government and turned into military posts,
hospitals, schools and prisons. Many of these were
also given to Muslim migrants or refugees who had
fled from their homelands during the Balkan Wars.
Thelegaljustificationfortheseizureswasthelawof
Emval-i Metruke (Law of Abandoned Properties),
which legalized the confiscation of Armenian
propertyiftheownerdidnotreturn.
https://www.rferl.org/a/armenian-heritage-in-turkey/
28029302.html
InthemuseumsofTehran,Isfahan,andTabriz,more
than 3.000 ancient parchment manuscripts in the
Armenian language are stored. Thanks to the efforts
oftheIraniangovernment,3Armenianarchitectural
monuments in Iran were inscribed in the UNESCO
WorldHeritageList.TheseweretheSt.Thaddeusand
St. Stepanos monasteries, as well as the Chapel of
Dzordzor. Their significance lies in their
architectural representation of the exchanges
between the regional cultures including Byzantine,
Orthodox, and Persian. The monasteries have
withstood numerous calamities, both human and
natural, throughout the centuries. St. Stepanos,
arguablythemostwell-knownofthethree,standsin
a canyon past the twists and bends of the Aras River
ontheAzerbaijanborder.
The Armenian quarter of New Julfa in Isfahan, was
established in 1606 as an Armenian quarter by the
edictofShahAbbasIfromtheSafaviddynasty.Over
150,000 Armenians were moved there from the
older Julfa (also known as Jugha or Juła)
in Nakhichavan. Iranian sources state that the
Armenians came to Iran fleeing the Ottoman
Empire's persecution. Nevertheless, historical
records indicate that the residents of Julfa were
treated well by Shah Abbas in the hopes that their
resettlement in Isfahan would be beneficial to Iran
due to their knowledge of the silk trade. The Holy
Savior Cathedral, also known the Church of the
Saintly Sisters, is located here. It is commonly
referredtoastheVank,whichmeans"monastery"or
"convent"intheArmenianlanguage.
www.wikipedia