Old Jonah from New Julfa

Friday, February 16, 2007

It’s officially the Year of Armenia in France, and in a
celebrationthat is not without sadness, members of Paris’s large and
influential Armenian community have organised an exhibition at the
Maison des Arts in the town of Antony, near Orly Airport, to mark 400
years of the Armenian presence in New Julfa,the Armenian quarter of
the central Persian city of Esfahan, which was founded early in the
17th century by Shah Abbas the Great for the more than 150,000
Armenians moved there by force from Julfa in Nakhichevan.

Although primarily a nostalgic look at the history of New Julfa, and
resting very heavily on late 19th and early 2oth century photographs
of sites such as the Armenian School and Vank Cathedral, as well as of
the families of members of the community, there were also a number of
artefacts displayed, including items of costume and textiles, that
relate directly to Armenian culture in Iran. Included among the latter
was this 17th century northwest Persian/Caucasian embroidery,
depicting the Biblical story of Jonah and the Whale, which was loaned
for the exhibition by Artemis Achdjian. In addition to the Armenian
crosses formed by the reciprocal space between the sixteen-sided star
panels of the field, an Armenian Christian source is indicated by the
drawing of the whale, shown as a giant scaly fish, which which in the
embroidery appears beneath a stylised four-legged creature (with more
crosses on its flanks), but which can also be seen beneath Jonah’s
boat in an early 10th century bas relief in the Church of the Holy
Cross in Aghtamar.

Until 29 April 2007