Relics of St. Echmiadzin

On 24 January 2006, within the context of the "Year of Armenia in Russia" and with the blessing of the Catolicos of All Armenians Garegin II, an exhibition entitled Relics of St. Echmiadzin opened in the State Hermitage. The exhibition has been jointly organized with the Holy See of St Echmiadzin,

Though it occupies a relatively small space and displays a limited number of items, the exhibition is highly significant and has great artistic value.

Echmiadzin has many holy objects which are revered in the entire Christian world. This collection includes works from a wide chronological range spanning the 9th to 20th centuries and a wide geographic range - Arara, Vaiots-Dzor, Erzerum, Van, Constantinople, India, China. It was assembled in the course of a long period mainly thanks to donations.

The exhibition (Room No. 260) includes manuscripts and samples of artistic metal work and needlework. Many items are being shown in the Hermitage for the first time. There are also sacerdotal robes and objects which signify the ecclesiastical rank and authority of clerics in the Armenian Church.

Reliquaries constitute the most important part of the exhibition: triptychs, relic hand bones, and crosses. Out of the two hand-shaped reliquaries (dlan), the Hand of St. Akop Mtsbinsky is especially interesting.

The skladen reliquary of "Khotakerats sub ishan," which dates from 1300, enjoys a particular place in the exhibition. It received its name from the monastery which was the source of the relic it contains - a piece of the True Cross on which Christ was crucified.

Another unique skladen contains one of the most revered holy objects of the Armenian Church - a piece of Noah's Ark. A small fragment was broken off from the lower left corner of the relic and in 1768 this was given to Catherine the Great. The patriarchal two-headed eagle, which has been almost completely covered in precious stones and decorative enamel, was given in return by the Empress to Catolicos Simeon I, and it is also shown in the exhibition.

The curator of the exhibition and author of the text of the scholarly catalogue is A.S. Mirzoyan, doctor of art history and senior researcher in the State Hermitage's Department of the Culture and Art of the Orient. The illustrated scholarly catalogue was prepared and published by the Slavia Publishing House, St Petersburg.

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At the ceremony of the open of the exhibition

At the exhibition

First visitors

The exhibition catalogue