Eternal Armenia: Khatchkars - The CrossStones of Noratus

by David Karamian

Eternal Armenia is a 264-page, large-format bilingual English-Armenian volume featuring nearly 200 photographs. It is the culmination of almost three years of photography, research, writing, and design devoted to Noratus Cemetery near Lake Sevan, home to the world’s largest surviving concentration of Armenian khatchkars.

The book goes beyond photography to explore the history and evolution of the khatchkar, its relationship to Armenian Christianity, its symbols and visual language, and the known and unknown master artisans who created these extraordinary works. I also examine individual khatchkars as visual narratives and offer my own interpretations of what their symbols may communicate.

An important underlying purpose of the book is documentation and preservation. The systematic destruction of the historic Armenian cemetery of Julfa and its thousands of khatchkars is a painful reminder of what can be permanently lost. My hope is that documenting Noratus in depth will help bring greater awareness to this extraordinary surviving part of Armenian cultural and Christian heritage.

Comes in box sleeve

264 Pages