Cultural Life
Yeghishe Tadevosyan, “Mount Arayi, Ejmiadzin (etude)”
Yeghishe Charents
The culture of the First Republic and the years which
followed it was also greatly enhanced by the influence of
artists from the diaspora who used the opportunities given by
independence to return and contribute to the life of the nation.
One of the most prominent examples is painter Martiros Saryan
(1880-1972), who was born in Nor Nakhichevan, Russia. He
spent his early career in Moscow and was greatly influenced by
the work of Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse. In 1915, shocked
by the genocide Saryan decided to travel to Etchmiadzin to
take part in aiding refugees. He later moved back to Russia, but
returned to settle in Armenia in 1921. Saryan is best known for
his landscapes, an example of which is found on the 20,000 dram
banknote, and many more in his House Museum located on
Yerevan's Saryan Street.
The Armenian who perhaps had the greatest influence
on the Yerevan we see today is architect Alexander Tamanian
(1878-1936), who settled in Armenia from the Russian diaspora
in 1923. Tamanian designed the planned city of Yerevan and
literally shaped the modern city. Tamanian's style allowed
what was a provincial town to turn into the modern capital
and cultural center of today. Tamanian was inspired by the
neoclassical movement of architecture, but also added a great
deal of Armenian accents to his buildings, such as the use of
pink tuff stone and traditional carvings on the stones. Tamanian
also designed layouts for many other towns besides Yerevan,
including Leninakan, Stepanakert, Gavar, and Etchmiadzin.
To see a beautiful example of Tamanian's work in the center of
Yerevan, look at Pushkin 25 building, which is now endangered
due to a redevelopment plan.
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Another contribution to Armenian culture from the
Russian diaspora was Alexander Spendiaryan (1871-1928), a
music composer and conductor who had studied under Nikolai
Rimsky-Korsakov. Spendiaryan was encouraged to appreciate
Armenian folklore and dreamed to bring orchestra music to
Armenia. He moved to Armenia in 1924 and conducted an
18-member orchestra made up of students and professors from
the Conservatory. This led to the birth of the newly founded
symphony orchestra, which in later years grew into the Armenian
State Orchestra. Spendiaryan wrote an opera Almast in which
he used melodies of the Shirak region. Yerevan's landmark
Theater of Opera and Ballet is named in honor of Spendiaryan's
contributions to Armenian musical culture, and both his statue
and tomb can be found in the adjoining Azadutyun (Freedom)
Square.
Russian-Armenians were not the only cultural figures
to play a role. Toros Toramanian (1864-1934) was an architect
born in Shabin-Karahisar, the Ottoman Empire. He studied
architecture in Constantinople and then Paris, and dedicated
his work to studies of medieval Armenian monuments. Many
of the ancient cultural monuments he studied were purposely
destroyed during the Armenian Genocide and the 1920
Kemalist invasion of Armenia, and so Toramanian's work is an
important remembrance and record of what was lost. He did a
great deal of work at the city of Ani and his most famous treatise
is a complete study of the ruins of the Church of Zvartnots.
His work helped to publicize medieval Armenian architecture
internationally and became a source for researchers.
Levon Shant (1869-1951) was a playwright, novelist,
and poet born in Constantinople. He studied throughout
Germany and was a teacher in Constantinople where he wrote
the plays “Ancient Gods” and “The Emperor” in the years
prior to the Genocide. He was a member of the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation and served in politics as a vice-
president of the Armenian Parliament during the First Republic.
He was imprisoned upon the Sovietization of Armenia, but was
liberated by an underground movement and fled the country.
He settled in Beirut and was the founder and first president of
the Armenian Academy of Beirut, known as the Djemaran. He
also continued to promote Armenian culture as the founder of
the Hamazkayin Cultural Foundation, which now has branches
throughout the world. Levon Shant's plays were banned by the
Soviets but have returned to the stage after independence and
are some of the most widely performed ones.
Thus we see that while it only lasted a short amount
of time, the First Armenian Republic played a giant role in
the development of Armenian culture into the 20 th century. It
gave Armenians the first modern chance to guide their culture
independent of empires ruling over them. Despite the difficult
conditions the republic faced, Armenians did not neglect
their national impulse for culture and laid a foundation which
continued to develop through Soviet times to today. We also see
that it was a collective effort, contributed to by local Armenians
and those who settled there from throughout the diaspora to
add their cultural expertise to benefit the republic. As Armenia
today holds the right of independence once again and looks to
guide Armenian culture into the future, there is much we can
learn from the example of the First Republic. We should take its
lessons of creating great institutions despite limited resources,
and the example of Armenians from all over the world bringing
their talents back to Armenia, as a way to make sure that
Armenia's cultural strength continues far into the future.