Alessia Boschis2018, Rassegna degli Armenisti Italiani
The History of the House of Arcrunik‘ describes the impressive architectural project built on the island of Ałt‘amar (Lake of Van, in nowadays Turkey) by Gagik I Arcruni, following his rise to the throne of Vaspurakan. Among the various parts of this complex, which included a citadel, with a port, fortifications, warehouses, princely residences, gardens, parks and, of course, a royal palace, only the Church of the Holy Cross survived up to the present day. The building is an unicum among the few early medieval Armenian artistic survivals for the extension and the degree of conservation of its painted and sculptural decoration. The ornamentation of the church shows the coexistence of figurative elements of different artistic traditions: early Christian iconography, widespread in the Mediterranean koinè; depictions of historical figures linked to the Arcrunis; hunting scenes and fights between beasts and men; hybrids, characteristic of Iranian mythology, depicted according to compositional and iconographic systems close to the Iranian and Central Asian artistic traditions. The presence in Ałt‘amar of Christian-Mediterranean (Syriac and/or Byzantine), Abbasid and Iranian (Sasanian) influences, was often emphasized in the studies devoted to the sculptural decoration of the church. This coexistence of different traditions should be read in the light of the economic, political and religious contacts between the Arcrunis and the supra-regional powers of Byzantine and Abbasid courts, as well as the local power of the Sājid dynasty. Despite the scarcity of archaeological evidences, this latter could be considered one of the sources of cultural and iconographical influence for the artists of Ałt‘amar. The purpose of this paper is to investigate in a comparative perspective the possible contacts between the art of Ałt‘amar and of Central Asia, trying to understand the way of realization of this hypothetical artistic mediation and, consequently, the role played also by the Sājids in the formation of a cultural milieu which led to the creation of the church and its decoration.