Ancient Armenia was shown at the Pushkin Museum
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The exhibition “Kingdom of Urartu” opened
The exhibition “The Kingdom of Urartu. The Legacy of Ancient Armenia,” which, against the backdrop of worsening contradictions between Russia and Armenia, sounds like a statement. The exhibition presents archaeological sites from the 10th to 7th centuries BC. kingdom that once existed on the Armenian Highlands. Archaeologists discovered Urartu only 200 years ago, and since the 1930s, specialists from the Hermitage and the Pushkin Museum have participated in the research. The historical project, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Svetlana Khojash, who led the museum expedition from Pushkinsky in Armenia for many years, brought together so many people at the opening that there was nowhere for an apple to fall.
It would seem that Pushkinsky presented a project that tells about very ancient times, which are of interest only to specialists. Someone called it purely local history. However, it has been a long time since such a crowd has gathered at the opening in Pushkinsky: people filled to capacity the Italian courtyard and the nearby staircase that leads to the archaeological exhibition. Before the public saw the project, officials spoke – from the Ministry of Culture of Armenia to the representative of the country’s plenipotentiary ambassador to the Russian Federation and the Armenian Church in Russia. Director of the Pushkin Museum Elizaveta Likhacheva read out a long list of thanks. In short, this is far from an ordinary event for both Armenia and Russia, especially now against the backdrop of political tensions. However, they were not talked about. We talked about the importance of archaeological research – read about cultural and scientific cooperation.
The exhibition itself immerses you in the ancient history of Armenia. The first section presents monuments of the pre-Urartian period, when the first city-states arose in the Armenian Highlands in the 2nd–1st millennia BC. Then tin bronze began to be widely used, jewelry making developed, traditions of painted ceramics were formed, and a military elite of charioteers was formed, for whom skillful uniforms were made. This is already a fairly developed culture, which flourishes with the emergence of the kingdom of Urartu.
The main section is dedicated to the first Armenian state, which existed for about two centuries. Here you can find giant wine jugs, which indicate that even then the culture of winemaking there was at its best. Even the main rivals of the proto-Armenians, the Assyrians, spoke very highly of the qualities of the intoxicating drink, calling Urartian wine “as fresh as a mountain stream.” Stones covered with cuneiform inscriptions indicate that the writing was borrowed by the Urartians from the Assyrians (Assyria bordered the kingdom), but it also has connections with other languages - Sumerian and Akkadian. Bronze figures, remains of colored frescoes, and bowls with relief ornaments emphasize a highly developed culture.
The Urartian kingdom reached the peak of its development in the 8th century BC. – his lands extended to the Black and Caspian seas. Then it was conquered by the Assyrians. But the culture did not disappear; in the place of Urartu, Armenia arose, which in different sources had different names – Armina, Kharminuya, Urashtu. In the hall, which represents archaeological monuments of the post-Urartian period, bronze figurines from the Yerevan History Museum, ceramics and silver rhytons found near the Erebuni fortress in 1968 are presented. Skillfully made vessels in the form of animal heads are considered the most luxurious works of the era – 6th-5th centuries BC.
However, the final section is perhaps the most important. He talks about archaeological expeditions in Armenia by our specialists – since the 1930s, employees from the Hermitage and the Pushkin Museum have participated in the research. What we know today about the ancient kingdom of Urartu is the result of the work of dozens, if not hundreds of orientalists. Among them is the director of the Hermitage, orientalist Boris Piotrovsky (father of the current director of the St. Petersburg museum), who trained Pushkinsky’s employees in the methods of excavating Urartian monuments. Senior researcher at the Department of the Ancient East of the Pushkin Museum Irina Loseva, who from 1949 to 1959 led the expedition from Pushkin to Erebuni. And Svetlana Khojash, who after Loseva’s death led the team of archaeologists of the Pushkin Museum in the fortress, which is located on the outskirts of Yerevan. She was born in 1923 and died in 2008. The project is dedicated to her centenary anniversary.
The exhibition was planned and prepared by the team of Marina Loshak and the staff of the Erebuni Museum-Reserve, although it was opened by its new director, Elizaveta Likhacheva. But it seems that she had a hand in making the project happen, judging by the speech at the opening, in which Likhacheva made a reservation that everything was not easy. And it seems that the exhibition has undergone some changes in the process. This archaeological excursion lacks modern inclusions that were invented under Loshak: this was the case, for example, at the exhibition “Gold of the Sarmatian Leaders,” where descriptions of artifacts were sung in operatic voices. But in the current situation, pure archeology turns out to be relevant. It is important that this exhibition story is not only about the ancient kingdom of Urartu, but in many ways about the people who researched the topic, and a large team from different museums in Armenia and Russia, which prepared the exhibition itself.
Newspaper headline:
Ancient Armenia in Pushkinsky
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