A Safavid Armenian monument: architectural hybridity at the Vank Cathedral in Isfahan

This thesis examines the well-known but still poorly understood Vank Cathedral in Isfahan. This building, in its construction and decoration, exhibits both Safavid and Armenian architectural and artistic features. There are significant differences when compared to the tradition of Armenian architecture and wall painting from before the Armenian migration to Isfahan in 1012/1604. The origins and reasons for these changes have been a point of contention. However, the interior and exterior design, structure and decoration of this building have not previously been the subject of detailed analysis. This study situates Vank Cathedral within the context of the wider corpus of seventeenth-century CE Safavid buildings, as well as Armenian churches predating the Armenian immigration, to better understand the structure and exterior appearance of this building. Following this, Armenian manuscripts from the twelfth to the seventeenth centuries, printed gospels of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and seventeenth-century CE Safavid miniatures, wall paintings, tiles and floral decoration are examined to better contextualize the interior decoration of the building. Due to the diasporic nature of Armenian communities in different locations, connections between these communities have also been reviewed to understand the myriad sources for Armenian imagery produced in Isfahan in the seventeenth century CE. Alongside this, the wider cultural and political context of the time in Isfahan is examined, drawing on a wide range of European, Persian and Armenian sources. This approach combines an understanding of the Christian and Muslim, as well as Safavid and Armenian, elements of Isfahani society to better understand the polyvalent identities at play. The important purpose of this study is not to examine the copying from one medium to another in a different location, but to highlight and interpret the changes, innovations and synthesis that happened as a result of the interplay and interaction of myriad different traditions, artisans, and materials.