In 2023, NAASR held a series of talks on the art of Armenian church mural painting, supported by a grant from the Dadourian Foundation. This Library Treasures highlights books dedicated to this topic.
Murals or wall paintings, including frescoes, represent some of the earliest forms of artistic expression, with their creation, purpose, and conservation intricately linked to architectural monuments. There are only a handful of books exclusively focused on this subject, but since murals are an integral part of many architectural monuments, particularly churches, many books on Armenian art history or architecture refer to them and there are photos of murals with brief descriptions in different publications, such as the those in the series Documents of Armenian Architecture (1968-1998) published by Faculty of Architecture of the Milan Polytechnic Academy and the Academy of Sciences of Armenian, and in volumes published by Research on Armenian Architecture (RAA) (1997-present).
In this edition of Library Treasures, we will highlight publications from the Mardigian Library collection that focus on murals of the Armenian churches.