Seven Matenadaran staff members and one postgraduate student participated in the 25th International Congress of Byzantine Studies, held in Vienna on August 24–29 under the theme “Byzantium beyond Byzantium.”
At the initiative of the Armenian National Committee for Byzantine Studies, a special session entitled “Byzantium and Artsakh” was held as part of the Congress. Papers were presented by Manea Erna Shirinyan, Head of Matenadaran’s Department for the Study of Armenian Texts of the 5th–14th Centuries and President of the Armenian National Committee for Byzantine Studies, on “Manuscript as Healing Object and Even ‘Sacred Body’ in Armenia” and “Some Comments on a Miniature in Mashtots Matenadaran Manuscript No. 316”; Ivet Tajaryan, Senior Researcher at the Department of Oriental Studies and Head of the Matenadaran Museum, on “Women as Key Patrons of Spiritual Monuments: Insights from Empress Theodora and Arzu Khatun”; and Lusine Sargsyan, Senior Researcher at the Department of Medieval Art Studies, on “Gandzasar Monastery: Byzantine Influence and Cultural Interrelations.”
Matenadaran representatives also presented papers at other sessions of the Congress. Armine Melkonyan, Senior Researcher at the Department for the Study of Armenian Texts of the 5th–14th Centuries, presented “The Armenian Life of Mary Magdalene.” Zaruhi Hakobyan, Senior Researcher at the Department of Medieval Art Studies, presented “The Iconography of Traditio Legis in Armenian Art of the 7th Century” and “A Shared Artistic Milieu: A Comparative Study of Two Ninth-Century Illuminated Manuscripts from Bagratuni Centers.” Anush Apresyan, Senior Researcher at the Department of Medieval Literature and Philology, presented “Translation of Byzantine Texts beyond Byzantium: Nemesius of Emesa’s On the Nature of Man.” Lusine Barseghyan, Researcher at the Department of Medieval Art Studies, presented “Communion of the Apostles in Armenian Illuminated Manuscripts (13th–14th Centuries).” Siranush Beglaryan, Junior Researcher in the same department, presented “The Armenian Iconography of the Wedding at Cana in the Context of Byzantine and Western Traditions.” Inga Dudukchyan, a postgraduate student at Matenadaran, presented “The Armenian Elite in the Service of Byzantium: On the Attire of the Donator of the Adrianopolis Gospel (1007).”
The participation of Matenadaran representatives in the 25th International Congress of Byzantine Studies was supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the H. Hovnanian Family Foundation.
