Essai pour une nouvelle lecture du bas-relief du tympan inférieur du narthex de l'église Saint-Étienne le Protomartyr du monastère de Noravankʻ (Toward a New Reading of the Bas-Relief of the Lower Tympanum of the Narthex of the Church of St. Stephen the Protomartyr, Noravank Monastery)
Leyloyan-Yekmalyan, Anna · 2025
Re-reads the carved lower tympanum of the Noravank narthex (founded 1261), whose composition centers on the Virgin and Child. The bird beneath the Child's feet is identified as the apocryphal clay bird animated by Jesus's breath, echoing the Father animating Adam; the lion the Child sits on is the Lion of Judah from the vision in Esdras. Old Testament prophets flank the Virgin, and a large letter Ա with a three-pointed arrow aimed at Mary's ear evokes Ephrem the Syrian's conception-through-the-ear formula, reinforced by the word ԲԱՌՆ and the surrounding Armenian inscription, which the author translates. The reading ties Armenian monumental sculpture to apocryphal and patristic exegesis.
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Leyloyan-Yekmalyan, Anna 2025. Essai pour une nouvelle lecture du bas-relief du tympan inférieur du narthex de l'église Saint-Étienne le Protomartyr du monastère de Noravankʻ (Toward a New Reading of the Bas-Relief of the Lower Tympanum of the Narthex of the Church of St. Stephen the Protomartyr, Noravank Monastery). Matenadaran: Medieval and Early Modern Armenian Studies (MEMAS), Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 163–186 (Mesrop Mashtots Matenadaran / Brepols); eISSN 3041-5063.
What this offers a reader
Shows how much theology is packed into a single carved stone: French-language, with an English abstract.
Peer-reviewed art-historical and epigraphic study; author is at INALCO, Paris.
Deep reading of one of our great surviving monuments, at a moment when Armenian heritage is under threat.
Decoding the carvings above the door of a 13th-century Armenian monastery.
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