Saint Mesrop Mashtots in the Urban and Academic Space of Yerevan

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34680/urbis-2022-2(3)-57-72

Tigran Simyan
Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia
[email protected]

ORCID: 0000-0001-9534-3505

Abstract

The article analyzes the principles of visualization and the context of the location of the sculpture of St. Mesrop Mashtots, the creator of the Armenian alphabet. The paper analyzes the visualization of the creator of the Armenian alphabet in urban and university spaces. The main task of the study is to represent the changes in the perception of the saint in the collective consciousness. The specificity of Mashtots' image in the Soviet and Post-Soviet eras reflects the different value systems of the two eras. This can be traced to the example of empirical material in urban and university space. The analysis showed that, in the Soviet epoch, Mesrop Mashtots was depicted in exterior and interior spaces as a secular figure without the respective church attributes. In contrast, in the post-Soviet epoch, he is already visualized as a saint with the clergy attributes (pectoral cross, robe, hood, etc.). The figure of Mashtots in the interior space of Yerevan State University (YSU) becomes a paradigm-forming basis, attracting all other figures not only on the bas-relief of the library but also in the lobby of the YSU central building. It is evident that the figure of Mesrop Mashtots is an archetypically significant constant. This is revealed in the analysis of the central axis of the exterior and interior space of the main building of the University and the Faculty of Philology located in it. In addition, the central avenue of the country is named after the creator of writing, and the beginnings of academic spaces such as the Yerevan State University, the Russian-Armenian University (RAU), National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (Presidium buildings), Gevorkian Theological Seminary of St. Echmiadzin, as well as general schools, are marked.

Keywords: Mesrop Mashtots, creator of writing, saint in urban space, saint in academic space, visualization of the saint, saint as an archetype.

REFERENCES

Abramyan 1983 – Abramyan A. G. Gladzor University. Yerevan, 1983. (In Armenian).

Abramyan 2011 – Abramyan L. Constructivists of the Early Middle Ages: The Case of Armenia. Anthropology of Social Change. Ed. by E. Guchinov, G. Komarova. Мoscow. 2011. P. 87–114. (In Russian).

Arevshatyan, Matevosyan 1984 – Arevshatyan S. S., Matevosyan A. S. Gladzor University – the center of Enlightenment of medieval Armenia. Yerevan, 1984. (In Armenian).

Azatyan 2009 – Yerevan State University. Ed. by Azatyan L. Yerevan, 2009. (In Armenian).

Barkhudaryan 2013 – Barkhudaryan V. Education in the Middle Ages: the 10th – 14th Centuries (A brief Еssay). Historical-Philological Journal. 2013. 3. P. 3–21. Identifier: oai:arar.sci.am:176039. (In Armenian).

Bartes 1989 – Barthes R. Selected Works: Semiotics: Poetics. M., 1989.

Dolukhanyan 1997 – Dolukhanyan L. K. Interaction of Architecture and the Fine Arts in the Formation of Town Environment. Herald of the Social Sciences. 1997. 3 (96). P. 93–107. Identifier: oai:arar.sci.am:38102. (In Russian).

Garibdzhanyan 1971 – Garibdzhanyan L. P. Yerevan State University. Yerevan, 1971. (In Russian).

Garibdzhanyan 1986 – Garibdzhanyan G. B. From Gladzor to Yerevan State University. Yerevan, 1986. (In Armenian).

Garibyan 1983 – Garibyan I. G. Gladzor: Location. Excavations. Epigraphy. Yerevan. (In Armenian).

Lotman 1965 – Lotman Yu. On the Problem of Meaning in Secondary Modeling Systems. Works on Semiotics. 1965. Vol. II. P. 22–37. (In Russian).

Mushegyan 2006 – Mushegyan A. Mesrop Mashtots and Pre-Mashtotsian Armenian Script. Historical-Philological Journal. 2006. 2. P. 210–236. Identifier: oai:arar.sci.am:175251. (In Armenian).

Stepanyan, Simyan 2012 – Stepanyan, A. A. Simyan T. S. Yerevan as a semiotic Text (Experience of Reconstruction of the Beginning and End of Mashtots Avenue). Critique and Semiotics. 2012. 16. P. 6–16. (In Russian).

About author

Tigran S. Simyan
Yerevan State University, Armenia
E-mail: [email protected] 

For citation:
Simyan T. S. Saint Mesrop Mashtots in the Urban and Academic Space of Yerevan. Urbis et Orbis. Microhistory and Semiotics of the City. 2022. 2 (3). P. 57–72. DOI: https://doi.org/10.34680/urbis-2022-2(3)-57-72