Levon Lachikyan / Armenian Churches (24 postcards)

Twenty-four postcards featuring the drawings of Levon Lachikyan provide a general impression of the successive phases of Armenian church art development. It is noteworthy that, due to the fine and highly exquisite performance, the well-known monuments acquired a new sonority, enveloping the observer in a spiritual-sensual mood. Each scenic postcard, besides having artistic importance, also provides laconic descriptions on the reverse. 

For many centuries, architecture was the paramount sphere of Armenian culture. From the III millennium B.C. and on, when the Armenian highland was completely under the umbrella of one cultural unit, robust traditions gradually commenced to form. The national image and identity of the Armenian architecture, however, was formed in the early IVc., when in 301, Armenia was the first to adopt Christianity as a state religion. According to the ancient Armenian historians, Gregory the Illuminator and King Tiridates III built the first churches in place of pagan temples, thereby linking centuries-old sites with a new religion. Already in the IV-Vcc., various types of constructions were formed, and in the VII century, the main line of its development was the construction of central domed-type churches. That century is considered the Golden era of Armenian architecture, when there were founded churches in Mastara, Ptgheni, Arouj, St. Hripsime, and St. Gayane in Etchmiadzin, Bagavan and Talin, Harijavank, and certainly the masterpiece of Armenian architecture, Zvartnots Cathedral. 

In medieval Armenia (IX-XIVcc.), the architectural schools of Ani, Lori, Syunik, and Vaspurakan came forth, and such famous architects as Tiridates, Manvel, Siranes, and Momik appeared in the arena.

Our medieval churches and monasteries memorialized the Armenian life and spirit. Over centuries, they underwent all those trials that the entire Armenia and the Armenian people did: they were destroyed, entirely ruined, and then reconstructed and repaired, giving birth to new ones also far beyond Armenia. Many of them became masterpieces of all-Christian architecture and art.