“Armenians and Jerusalem” exhibition
The Armenian Communities Department and the Art Library and Archives of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation have jointly launched a new exhibition called Armenians and Jerusalem. Opened on 20 June 2024, the exhibition displays a selection of recently discovered documents, as well as ceramics, rare books, historic photos, and a beautiful silk altar curtain from the St. James Cathedral in Jerusalem, embroidered in 1756.
The idea of the Armenians and Jerusalem exhibition emerged a year-and-a-half ago when scores of rare documents were discovered in a private residence in Paris. The lost archives included architectural drawings of the Gulbenkian Library in Jerusalem, correspondence between the Patriarch and Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, contracts, construction reports, and photographs.
To provide a more comprehensive overview of the Armenian millennial presence in Jerusalem, and Gulbenkian’s visit to the Holy Land in 1934, the exhibition also displays items from the Foundation’s vast collection of documents and books, including Gulbenkian’s travel diary, as well as borrowed pieces both from the Patriarchate and the secular community, most notably ceramics from the Balian Family collection. It shows historic and contemporary photos of the Armenian Quarter, including one of the Cow’s Garden from the 1920s. It highlights images of inscriptions in the Armenian alphabet from the 430s AD, and film footage of Jerusalem from more than a century ago.
The exhibition is curated by Shogher Margossian, the Assistant Director of the Armenian Communities Department, and designed by Sofia Mendes of Lisbon. It runs until 22 September 2024, in the Atrium of the Gulbenkian Art Library and Archives, on the lower floor of the Museum.