Medieval Armenian Sculpture of the 12th to the 14th Centuries: Patterns of Development, Symbolism and Style

The project is devoted to the research of the Armenian figurative and ornamental sculpture of the 12th to 14th c. It continues the previous thematic project of the group carried out within a grant provided by the Science Committee of MESCS RA and devoted to the sculptural decoration of ruined and less studied churches of the 12th to 14th centuries (code 21T-6E291): the project was completed with a digital book. The work showed the large volume of the material to be studied and gave rise to many questions, making it clear that the study of sculpture cannot be limited to only ruined churches and requires further studies. The sculpture of the period should be systematized according to the schools as well as iconographic and stylistic typology; also, the symbolism of animal reliefs should be clarified. Ornaments are much less studied, so one of the main goals is to study it according to types, schools and styles. Within the framework of the previous theme, the group mostly collected the main material, compiled a catalog of monuments for the book. The second book should address a number of other theoretical problems relating to reliefs, thus completing our research into the sculpture of the 12th to 14th centuries. The scientific group consists of 5 members and a foreign partner.