Your trusted source

The statuette of Teisheba, one of the three chief deities of Urartu which was found in the fortress of Karmir Blur near Teishebaini in 1941 and kept at the History Museum of Armenia, has a clay replicate now.

The author of the 2.20-meter-high clay statue is sculptor Vahram Galstyan. He has worked on the sculpture for 8 months and had it fired in Teishebaini a few days ago.

Vahram Galstyan told Panorama.am on Tuesday that he had sought to create such a statue for a long time, as terracotta is widely used for sculpting around the world currently. He participated in a symposium held in Crimea, where he had already presented a terracotta statue and wanted to create a similar sculpture in Armenia as well.

"I shared my plans with Mikayel Badalyan [former head of the Erebuni Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve]. He was very excited about the idea, but we needed clay and kaowool, which were not available in Armenia. Some time later, a man from Russia, businessman Armen Nalbandyan, paid a visit to Mikayel. He informed Armen Nalbandyan of our idea and the latter promised to purchase all necessary materials and send it to Armenia and he did so. After finishing some pieces, I started working on the statue of Teisheba, which took 8 months," explained the sculptor.

Why God Teisheba?

Vahram Galstyan said the statue was uncovered during excavations in Karmir Blur by Hripsime Janpoladyan who was the wife of the head of expedition, Boris Piotrovsky. Hripsime Janpoladyan was a relative of his grandmother.

He noted that the statuette of Teisheba was suitable for this method of firing.

"The sculpture is hollow inside, as fire had to pass through it. The clay sculpture was fired at about 1100-1200C. After firing, I moved the statue to my studio. It is my property, but if a museum is built in Karmir Blur, I will donate the statue to it," the sculptor added.

Vahram Galstyan underscored that such a statue firing technique was used in Armenia for the first time.