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RICHARD HOVANNISIAN PARTICIPATES IN A SEMINAR ON THE FIRST GEORGIAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
By admin
http://massispost.com/archives/9101
Updated: July 29, 2013
TBILISI - Professor Richard Hovannisian was invited to Tbilisi
(Tiflis) by the Georgian National Archives to participate in a
week-long seminar, July 17-23, on the First Georgian Democratic
Republic. As a pioneering historian of the First Armenian Republic,
Hovannisian was seen as a model for the young Georgian, Armenian,
Azeri, Russian, Lithuanian, Polish, Italian, French, British, and
American scholars in attendance.
During the presentations by Georgian lecturers on the historical,
constitutional and legislative, political, social, economic,
cultural, educational, religious, military, and interethnic aspects
of the Georgian Republic, Professor Hovannisian regularly offered
constructive comments and comparative insights. The seminar included
excursions to the old city of Tiflis, its former Armenian upper
class Solalaki quarter, Freedom (formerly Yerevan) Square, Rustaveli
(formerly Golovinsky) Prospect, with its government buildings and grand
former Armenian mansions, the Georgian National Library and Manuscript
Center, the Opera and State Museum, and the historic capital city
of Mtskheta. In addition, a day was spent on the heights of Kojori,
where the final battles took place before the Red Army advanced into
Tiflis in March, 1921 to end the Georgian Democratic Republic and
begin the period of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.
While in Georgia, Richard Hovannisian was invited by the Armenian
Prelate of the Georgian Diocese, Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan and head
of the Legal Division, Mr. Levon Isakulyan, to address Armenian youth
leaders at a summer training program at nearby Tserovani.
Representatives from throughout Georgia-Tbilisi, Batum, Tsalka,
Marnaul, Bolnis, Akhalkalak, and Akhaltsikh-heard Hovannisian speak
about the First Armenian Democratic Republic and issues relating to
the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, in which the Georgian
Armenian youth showed great interest.
Hovannisian joined His Eminence and the youth group on a pilgrimage
to the Armenian Pantheon, a small part of the former vast Armenian
Khojavank cemetery in the Halvabar quarter of Tbilisi to plant a tree
near the monuments of Raffi, Sundukian, and other noted Armenian
writers and intellectuals. Much of Khojavank and its Church of
Holy Mother of God (Astvatsadzin) were demolished at the command of
Stalin's henchman, Lavrenty Beria, in the 1930. Recently, the enormous
Georgian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity has been built on the
site of the cemetery, exposing numerous tombs, about which various
protests proved to be of no avail. Down the hill from the cathedral
is the Armenian "Etchmiadzin" Church and just across the Kura River,
the Armenian Cathedral of Saint Gevorg.
The week of conferences, talks, and excursions proved both interesting
and instructive for the seminar participants. It was apparent that
until recently the Georgian scholars and public had far less knowledge
and awareness of the First Georgian Republic than Armenians had about
their First Republic, perhaps because of the existence of a large
Armenian Diaspora during the Soviet years.
By admin
http://massispost.com/archives/9101
Updated: July 29, 2013
TBILISI - Professor Richard Hovannisian was invited to Tbilisi
(Tiflis) by the Georgian National Archives to participate in a
week-long seminar, July 17-23, on the First Georgian Democratic
Republic. As a pioneering historian of the First Armenian Republic,
Hovannisian was seen as a model for the young Georgian, Armenian,
Azeri, Russian, Lithuanian, Polish, Italian, French, British, and
American scholars in attendance.
During the presentations by Georgian lecturers on the historical,
constitutional and legislative, political, social, economic,
cultural, educational, religious, military, and interethnic aspects
of the Georgian Republic, Professor Hovannisian regularly offered
constructive comments and comparative insights. The seminar included
excursions to the old city of Tiflis, its former Armenian upper
class Solalaki quarter, Freedom (formerly Yerevan) Square, Rustaveli
(formerly Golovinsky) Prospect, with its government buildings and grand
former Armenian mansions, the Georgian National Library and Manuscript
Center, the Opera and State Museum, and the historic capital city
of Mtskheta. In addition, a day was spent on the heights of Kojori,
where the final battles took place before the Red Army advanced into
Tiflis in March, 1921 to end the Georgian Democratic Republic and
begin the period of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.
While in Georgia, Richard Hovannisian was invited by the Armenian
Prelate of the Georgian Diocese, Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan and head
of the Legal Division, Mr. Levon Isakulyan, to address Armenian youth
leaders at a summer training program at nearby Tserovani.
Representatives from throughout Georgia-Tbilisi, Batum, Tsalka,
Marnaul, Bolnis, Akhalkalak, and Akhaltsikh-heard Hovannisian speak
about the First Armenian Democratic Republic and issues relating to
the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, in which the Georgian
Armenian youth showed great interest.
Hovannisian joined His Eminence and the youth group on a pilgrimage
to the Armenian Pantheon, a small part of the former vast Armenian
Khojavank cemetery in the Halvabar quarter of Tbilisi to plant a tree
near the monuments of Raffi, Sundukian, and other noted Armenian
writers and intellectuals. Much of Khojavank and its Church of
Holy Mother of God (Astvatsadzin) were demolished at the command of
Stalin's henchman, Lavrenty Beria, in the 1930. Recently, the enormous
Georgian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity has been built on the
site of the cemetery, exposing numerous tombs, about which various
protests proved to be of no avail. Down the hill from the cathedral
is the Armenian "Etchmiadzin" Church and just across the Kura River,
the Armenian Cathedral of Saint Gevorg.
The week of conferences, talks, and excursions proved both interesting
and instructive for the seminar participants. It was apparent that
until recently the Georgian scholars and public had far less knowledge
and awareness of the First Georgian Republic than Armenians had about
their First Republic, perhaps because of the existence of a large
Armenian Diaspora during the Soviet years.