Eurasian Studies Balkans, Anatolia, Iran, Caucasus and Central Asia Studies Notebooks

Series | Eurasian Studies
Edited book | Armenian Art. Critical History and New Perspectives
Chapter | Armenia – Georgia – Islam

Armenia – Georgia – Islam

A Need to Break Taboos in the Study of Medieval Architecture

Abstract

Two important spheres of the history of medieval architecture in the Anatolia-Armenia-South-Caucasian region remain insufficiently explored due to some kind of taboos that still hinder their study. This concerns the relationship between Armenia and Georgia on the one hand, and between Armenia and the Islamic art developed in today’s Turkey and South Caucasus during the Seljuk and Mongol periods, on the other. Although its impartial study is essential for a good understanding of art history, the question of the relationship between these entities remains hampered by several prejudices, due mainly to nationalism and a lack of communication, particularly within the countries concerned. The Author believes in the path that some bold authors are beginning to clear, that of an unbiased approach, free of any national passion. He calls for a systematic and dispassionate development of comparative studies in all appropriate aspects of these three arts. The time has come to break taboos.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: July 1, 2020 | Accepted: Aug. 26, 2020 | Published Dec. 21, 2020 | Language: en

Keywords Armenian-Georgian architectural relationshipArmenian-Islamic ‘syncretism’Seljuk and Ilkhanid architectureHistory of artMedieval architecture


read this chapter