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An exhibition entitled “Ararat: The Holy Mount” will open at the National Gallery of Armenia on 15 October.

As a symbol of identity and homeland of Armenian people the biblical Mount Ararat has found its interpretation in Armenian art, particularly in literature and music and especially in fine art.

The exclusive exhibition “Ararat: The Holy Mount” embraces paintings and graphic works of Armenian classic and contemporary artists, including Gevorg Bashinjaghian, Martiros Sarian, Hakob Kojoyan, Georgy Yakulov, Yeghishe Tadevossian, Stepan Aghajanian, Sedrak Arakelian, Panos Terlemezian, Hovhannes Zardaryan, Petros Konturajian, Grigor Khanjyan, Seyran Khatlamajian, Ruben Grigoryan and others. The majority of the works are “pure” landscapes, the gallery said.

Along with the same common motif of Mount Ararat and the Ararat Valley, the biblical mount is in its own way represented in the canvases of each artist thus expressing the artist’s own perceptions and feelings. It begets the innermost feelings of national spirit, love and pride in homeland numerous generations have been nurtured and brought up with. As home of humanity, Mount Masis rises in its primeval majesty (“Noah Descending Mount Ararat”, 1889 by H. Aivazovsky, “Mount Ararat”, 1912 by G. Bashinjaghian, “Mount Ararat”, 1968 by H. Zardaryan). As an important part of homeland’s collective image it completes the beauty of the nature in a number of paintings (“Mount Ararat”, 1929 by M. Sarian, “Armenia”, ca 1927 by G. Yakulov, “Mount Ararat”, 1914 by Ye. Tadevossian, “Mount Masis in Autumn”, 1922 by P. Terlemezian and “Mount Ararat”, 1985 by S. Khatlamajian). In some canvases the Mount is represented as a centuries-old evidence of the ties between the past and the present (“Yerevan on the Background of Mount Ararat in Spring”, 1923 by St. Aghajanian, “Mount Ararat at Sunset”, 1961 by G. Gyurjian and “Khor Virap and the Lesser Ararat” by V. Karapetyan).

The picture of Mount Ararat has also been found in a number of compositions and portraits thus reflecting the homeland and people making it prosperous in harmony (“Portrait of State Farmer Araks Poghossian” 1953 by H. Zardaryan, “Return to Homeland”, 1953 by P. Konturajian). Sometimes it embodies the unbending spirit of resistance of disasters and survival as well as the vision of homeland’s future (“Coming from the Chasm of Death to Life” by G. Khanjyan, illustration of the poem “Dance of the People of Sassoun”, 1975 by G. Emin, “At the Foot of Mount Ararat”, 1985 by M. Petrossian, “Issues”, 1987 by R. Grigoryan).

Mount Ararat became of great interest especially recently due to the project “Ararat Challenge”. The exhibition represents the works of distinguished masters of Armenian art to the wide circle of public. Those works make eternal values both on their own and as striking examples of self-knowledge and patriotism.

The exhibition runs through 15 November.