Armenian eternity sign

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The right and left facing Armenian eternity signs
The eternity sign appears on the base of this 1965 monument at the top of Yerevan Cascade, named "Revived Armenia", dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Soviet rule in Armenia. See another view. There are 9 eternity signs on this 50-metre (160 ft) high monument, including 5 on the base and 4 on top.

The Armenian eternity sign (Armenian: Հավերժության հայկական նշան) is an ancient Armenian national symbol and a symbol of the national identity of the Armenian people.[1] It is one of the most common symbols in Armenian architecture,[2][3] carved on khachkars and on walls of churches.

Evolution and use

In medieval Armenian culture, the eternity sign symbolized the concept of everlasting, celestial life.[4] Since the 5th century, it appeared on Armenian steles, later it becomes part of khachkar symbolism.[5] Around the 8th century the use of the Armenian symbol of eternity had become a long established national iconographical practice,[6] and it keeps its meaning until the modern times.[7] Besides being one of the main components of khachkars,[8] it can be found on church walls,[9][10][11] tomb stones and other architectural monuments.[12][13][14][15][16] Notable churches with the eternity sign include the Mashtots Hayrapet Church of Garni,[17] Horomayr Monastery,[18] Nor Varagavank,[19] Tsitsernavank Monastery.[20] It can also be found on Armenian manuscripts.

The eternity sign is used on the logos of government agencies and on commemorative coins,[21] as well as Armenian government agencies and non-government organizations and institutions in Armenia and the Armenian diaspora.[22]

The symbol is also used by Armenian neopagan organizations and their followers. It is called by them "Arevakhach" (Արևախաչ, "sun cross").[23]

ArmSCII and UNICODE

In ArmSCII, Armenian Standard Code for Information Interchange, an Armenian Eternity sign has been encoded in 7-bit and 8-bit standard and ad-hoc encodings since at least 1987. In 2010 the Armenian National Institute of Standards suggested encoding an Armenian Eternity sign in the Unicode character set,[24] and both right-facing and left-facing Armenian eternity signs were included in Unicode version 7.0 when it was released in June 2014.[25]

Font glyphs
Regular
Italic
Bold
Bold Italic

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ↑ Armenian Eternity Sign, IT Development Support Council of the Government Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Workgroup of Language & Culture, 2010.
    From page Prehistory of the Armenian Dram and Armenian eternity signs of National institute of Standards of Republic of Armenia.
  2. ↑ Jacob G. Ghazarian (2006), The Mediterranean legacy in early Celtic Christianity: a journey from Armenia to Ireland, Bennett & Bloom, pp. 263, p. 171 "... Quite a different version of the Celtic triskelion, and perhaps the most common pre-Christian symbolism found throughout Armenian cultural tradition, is the round clockwise (occasionally counter-clockwise) whirling sun-like spiral fixed at a centre — the Armenian symbol of eternity."
  3. ↑ K. B. Mehr, M. Markow, Mormon Missionaries enter Eastern Europe, Brigham Young University Press, 2002, pp. 399, p. 252 "... She viewed a tall building with spires and circular windows along the top of the walls. It was engraved with sun stones, a typical symbol of eternity in ancient Armenian architecture."
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ N. Sahakyan/ Armenian Highland: / RAU Press. 2006, page 150(349)
  6. ↑ Jacob G. Ghazarian (2006), The Mediterranean legacy in early Celtic Christianity: a journey from Armenia to Ireland, Bennett & Bloom, pp. 263, p. 186 "The eighth, or ninth, century date of this two examples of Irish stone crosses places them chronologically well after the carving of stone crosses in Armenia and the use of the Armenian symbol of eternity had become a long established national iconographical practice."
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ The government of Armenia, The list of non-material cultural heritage of Armenia, 2010, p. 15
  9. ↑ R. Kartashyan, «Architectural complex of Khoranashat», The journal of social sciences №4, Yerevan, 1986, pp. 42—52
  10. ↑ Hayden Herrera (2005), Arshile Gorky: His Life and Work, Macmillan, pp. 784
  11. ↑ Károly Gink, Károly Gombos, Armenia: landscape and architecture, Corvina Press, 1974
  12. ↑ Nicolas Holding (2011), Armenia, Bradt Travel Guides, pp 312, p. 130, 148
  13. ↑ G. Sargsyan, U. Melkonyan, Litographical sketches - 2, Historico-phylological journal of Armenian Academy of sciences, № 3, 2012, p. 101
  14. ↑ R. L. Khachatryan, Russian academy of Art, Rudolg Khachatryan: high-dimensional objects, Galart, 2002, p. 13
  15. ↑ Armenia Today, vol. 5-6, Yerevan, 1982, p. 4
  16. ↑ G. Karakhanyan, «Medieval domesstic reliefs of Armenia», The journal of social sciences, №8, Yerevan, 1975, pp. 31—47
  17. ↑ see image of the dome
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Asratyan M., Tsitsernavank, Historico-phylological journal of Armenian Academy of sciences, № 2, 1980, p. 50
  21. ↑
  22. ↑ National Council of Western Armenia, the flag of Western Armenia, 2011
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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