Cummings Foundation Grant Recipient

THE RUINS OF ANI: From Sacred Landscape to Political Soil with Peter Balakian and Aram Arkun ~ Thursday, February 27, 2020

#AramArkun #BatmasianHall #ContemporaryArmenianIssues #FundacaoGulbenkian #NAASRevents #PeterBalakian #RuinsOfAni #TekeyanCulturalBoston

Thursday, February 27, 2020 at 7:30 pm
NAASR Batmasian Hall, 395 Concord Avenue, Belmont, MA 02478

Join us in NAASR's Batmasian Hall for a presentation by Peter Balakian, editor and Aram Arkun, translator of The Ruins of Ani by Krikor Balakian.

 

From the tenth to the thirteenth centuries, the city of Ani was the jewel of the Armenian kingdom, renowned far and wide for its magnificent buildings. By the fifteenth century, Ani was virtually abandoned, its stunning buildings left to crumble. Yet its ruins have remained a symbol of cultural accomplishment that looms large in the Armenian imagination.

Today, Ani is a popular tourist site in Turkey, but the city has been falsified in its presentation by the Turkish government in order to erase Armenian history in the wake of the Armenian Genocide. Krikor Balakian’s The Ruins of Ani, first published in Armenian in 1910 and now available in English, is a unique combination of history, art criticism, and travel memoir. This timely publication and program raise important questions about the preservation of major historic monuments in the face of post atrocity campaigns of cultural erasure.

PETER BALAKIAN is the Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar Professor of the Humanities in the department of English at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. He is the author of many books, including The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America’s Response, winner of the Raphael Lemkin Prize; Black Dog of Fate, winner of the PEN/Albrand Award for Memoir; and Ozone Journal, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

ARAM ARKUN is the Executive Director of the Tekeyan Cultural Association and assistant editor at the Armenian Mirror-Spectator. He is the author of numerous academic articles and book chapters and translations, and has served as Director of the Zohrab Center in New York City and as editor of Ararat Quarterly.

ADMISSION IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Doors open at 7:00 pm for browsing in the Bookstore and seating in Batmasian Hall.
The Ruins of Ani: A Journey to Armenia's Medieval Capital and Its Legacy will be available for purchase and signing at the event.

A reception will take place after the program in the Shahinian Solarium.

CO-SPONSORS
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research - NAASR / Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian Lecture Series on Contemporary Armenian Issues
Tekeyan Cultural Association - Boston

Click here for the flyer.  Click here to purchase The Ruins of Ani.


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