MARANCI TO TALK ON ‘EXCAVATION AND RECONSTRUCTION OF ZVARTNOTS’

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Mon, Mar 29 2010

On April 14, Maranci will present "Rock, Paper, Scissors: The
Excavation and Reconstruction of Zvartnots."

WATERTOWN, Mass.-Zvartnots, perhaps more than any other medieval
church, has become an icon of Armenian identity, the subject of
countless representations in miniature, and the inspiration and
namesake of the airport terminal of Yerevan. Yet what is really known
about this church?

On April 14, the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA) will
feature a presentation by ALMA Research Fellow Dr. Christina Maranci,
the director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute in Yerevan. Her
talk, titled "Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Excavation and Reconstruction
of Zvartnots," will consider the initial excavations at the site, the
participation of T’oros T’oramanian, and the scholarly controversies
surrounding its original appearance.

Maranci is the Dadian Oztemel Chair of Armenian Art at Tufts
University. She received her Ph.D. from Princeton University in the
department of art and archaeology in 1998. Her 2001 book, Medieval
Armenian Architecture: Constructions of Race and Nation, explores
the role of Josef Strzygowski in the field of medieval Armenian
architecture.

This free public program will take place at 7 p.m. in the museum’s
Contemporary Art Gallery (3rd floor), on 65 Main St. in Watertown. A
reception will follow.