7.2 Armenian Historical Figures (Cultural)

Trdat the Architect

The consructor of the Mother Cathedral of Ani

Toros Roslin

The greatest of medieval Armenian manuscript painters, working in the heyday of the Cilician Kingdom of Armenia

St. Mesrob Mashdots

First a soldier, then a priest and scribe in the royal court, the founder of Armenian Alphabet, with Catholicos St. Sahag

Sayat-Nova

Musician, poet, sang and played the kamanche, he performed in the court Heraclius of Georgia

Alan Hovhaness

A prolific 20th Century American composer, pioneer of East-West fusion, mixing Armenian and other Eastern themes into his music

Hovhannes Ayvazovsky

Painter, he is best known for his seascapes, "The sea is my life," he wrote

Arshile Gorky

Vostanik Manoog Adoyan, painter, a genocide survivor

Martiros Saryan

Painter (20 century), captured the rich earthen colors of the Armenian landscape under the powerful Armenian sun

Aram Khachaturian

Armenian classical composer. His best known works are Spartak (Spartacus) and Gayane, the latter featuring the now ubiquitous Sabre Dance

Mikayel Nalbandian

A writer and national leader, his advocacy on behalf of the Armenian people led to his arrest and imprisonment in St. Petersburg by the Tsarist government in 1862

Komidas Vardapet

Churchman, musician, (Soghomon Soghomonian). His polyphonic rendering of the Armenian Divine Liturgy is one of the two basic settings in use in Armenian churches world-wide