Gohar Grigoryan
Gohar Grigoryan is an art historian and codicologist, with strong interest in history, theology, and philology. She received her PhD in 2017 from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, for her dissertation “Royal Images of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (1198-1375) in the Context of Mediterranean Intercultural Exchange” (summa cum laude). Her research and publications have been supported by Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship 2013-2016, Zeno Karl Schindler Foundation (Geneva), NAASR (National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, Belmont, MA), AGBU (New York), Getty Foundation (Los Angeles, CA), Swiss National Science Foundation, and Samuel H. Kress Foundation (New York). She is the recipient of the Best Conference Paper Award 2015, awarded by the Society for Armenian Studies (California State University, Fresno).
Her research interests revolve around all aspects of medieval Armenian art, architecture, and aesthetics within the large Eurasian area in general and in the South Caucasian and Eastern Mediterranean regions more particular. Her work experience covers such fields as Political theology and visualization of secular power; Armenian codicology and manuscript studies; Holy Land studies; Pilgrimage and material culture; Architecture and liturgy; Female patronage and devotional practices; Material and visual cultures of medieval Caucasus; Medieval aesthetics; Provenance studies; History of Armenian printing (16th-20th cc); and Art historiography (19th-21st cc).
Within the ERC ArmEn project, Grigoryan conducts a study on the role of liturgical furniture in the construction of sacred spaces of medieval South Caucasus and prepares a collaborative initiative on the artistic production of the region.
Peer-reviewed publications (selection)
Edited and co-edited volumes
Մայր Աթոռ Սուրբ Էջմիածինը հայ գրատպության կենտրոն. Հրատարակությունների մատենագիտություն (1772-1920) [Bibliography of Publications (1772-1920) of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin], 744 pp, 492 b/w ill., ISBN: 978-9939-59-283-1 (Etchmiadzin: Press of the Armenian Catholicosate, 2021).
(with M. Bacci and M. Studer-Karlen) Staging the Ruler’s Body in Medieval Cultures: A Comparative Perspective, 351 pp, 180x265 mm, 1 b/w and 83 color ill., 1 table, 1 map, ISBN: 978-1-915487-08-7 (Turnhout: Brepols / Harvey Miller, 2023).
(with M. Bacci, N. Chitishvili et al.) Approaches to Sacred Space(s) in Medieval Subcaucasian Cultures, 272 pp, 17.5x22 cm, ISBN: 979-1254-69-495-4 (Rome: Viella, 2023).
Journal articles and book chapters
“Images of Christ Emmanuel and Christus Victor in the Canons of a Priest’s Ordination and the Blessing of Water”, in A. Bausi, J. Gnisci, T. M. Van Lint et al (eds), Illuminating the Eastern Christian, Jewish, and Islamic World (Berlin: De Gruyter, forthcoming).
“The Construction of Sacred Spaces in Thirteenth-Century Armenia: Liminal Experience and Spiritual Expectations within the Gawit‛”, in M. Bacci, N. Chitishvili, G. Grigoryan et al (eds), Approaches to Sacred Space(s) in the Medieval Subcaucasian Cultures (Rome: Viella, 2023), pp. 100-137.
“The Just Judgement of King Lewon IV: Representational Strategies of Righteous Rulership in Cilician Armenia”, in M. Bacci, G. Grigoryan and M. Studer-Karlen (eds), Staging the Ruler’s Body in Medieval Cultures: A Comparative Perspective (Turnhout: Brepols / Harvey Miller, 2023), pp. 79-116.
“A Jacobean Shell for Šahuk, Servant of God”, in F. Alpi, R. Meyer, I. Tinti et al (eds), Armenia through the Lens of Time: Multidisciplinary Studies in Honour of Theo Maarten van Lint (Leiden: Brill, 2023), pp. 56-79.
“Royal Images and Coronation Celebrations in the Sermons of Yovhannēs Pluz Erznkac‛i”, in M. Bacci and M. Studer-Karlen (eds), Meanings and Functions of the Ruler’s Image in the Mediterranean World (11th-15th Centuries) (Leiden: Brill, 2022), pp. 33-57.
“Armenian Colophons on the Takeover of Sis (1375)”, Revue des études arméniennes 40 (2021): 85-99, and 41 (2022): 631-632.
“Mariun: An Exiled Queen’s Pilgrimage and Death in Jerusalem”, Al-Usur al-Wusta: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists 29 (2021): 217-255.
“Au sujet de l’authenticité des deux feuillets d’un manuscrit «cilicien»”, Revue des études arméniennes 40 (2021): 263-296.
“Medieval Contexts and Modern Realities of a Genocide-Survivor Artwork: A Review Article of Heghnar Watenpaugh’s The Missing Pages”, Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies 27/1 (2020): 117-130.
“Two Armenian Manuscripts in Switzerland (with an annotated translation of a newly-found abridgement of the Commentary of Canon Tables attributed to Step‛anos Siwnec‛i)”, Le Muséon 133/1-2 (2020): 87-139.
“King Gagik Arcruni’s Portrait on the Church of Ałt‛amar”, in Z. Pogossian and E. Vardanyan (eds), The Church of the Holy Cross of Ałt‛amar: Politics, Art, Spirituality in the Kingdom of Vaspurakan (Leiden: Brill, 2019), pp. 416-440.
“The Heritage of Ancestors: Early Studies on Armenian Manuscripts and Miniature Painting”, in I. Foletti and S. Riccioni (eds), Discovering the Art of Medieval Caucasus (1801-1945), special journal issue – Venezia Arti 27 (2018): 81-102.
“On the Interpretation of the Crosses Carved on the External Walls of the Armenian Church in Famagusta”, in M. J. K. Walsh (ed.), The Armenian Church of Famagusta and the Complexity of Cypriot Heritage: Prayers Long Silent (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2017), pp. 125-141.
“Updated Information on the Early Publications of the First Printing House in Armenia”, Banber Matenadarani / Bulletin of Matenadaran 22 (2015): 499-506 (in Armenian).
“The Roots of Tempietto and Its Symbolism in Armenian Gospels”, Iconographica: Studies in History of Images 13 (2014): 11-24.
“The Iconography and Symbolism of the Sacrifice of Isaac in Armenian Miniature Painting”, Etchmiadzin Monthly 8 (2012): 88-95 (in Armenian).
Last update
22.04.2024