Le bassin de la mer Noire, aire de rayonnement du khatchkar diasporique : Le rôle de la Crimée et notamment de Caffa au Moyen Âge au Moyen Âge
The Black Sea basin, area of spreading of the “Diaspora” khachkar (cross-stone): the role of Crimea, and especially of Caffa, in the Middle Ages

Author(s): Patrick Donabédian
Subject(s): History, Archaeology, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Architecture, Visual Arts, Middle Ages, 6th to 12th Centuries, 13th to 14th Centuries, 15th Century
Published by: Сдружение „Транспонтика“
Keywords: medieval Armenian art; Armenian diaspora; cross-stone called khachkar; diasporic khachkar; Pontic basin
Summary/Abstract: The article attempts to highlight the central role played by the Pontic basin in the propagation of a religious and artistic form specific to the communities of Armenian Diaspora: the small wall khachkar (cross-stone). Created in Armenia in the 9th century, simultaneously with the monumental plates with cross called khachkar, the type of small plaque marked with the cross – tree of life, and inserted into walls, was first introduced in Jerusalem and Cilicia in the 12th century. Then it spread in various Diaspora communities where it became an almost exclusive form of “exposed” popular devotion. Crimea and especially its Genoese “capital” Caffa, where a large Armenian community resided from the end of the 13th century, played an important role, not only in the perpetuation of this tradition, but also in the “normalisation” of its new Diaspora type, and in its spreading, especially in the Black Sea basin, but also beyond. The article seeks to define the type in question, to clarify its characteristics, and to identify the places of the “Pontic basin” (in a broad sense) affected by its diffusion: on its northern shore, Crimea with various localities, in addition to Caffa; further to the north-west, Bessarabia with Akkerman/ Belgorod Dniestrovski); and beyond, Galicia with Lviv, and Podolia with Kamenets-Podolsk; on the southern shore of the Black Sea, Constantinople and Trebizond; on its east bank, Georgia and in particular Tiflis. It must be noted that this geography is limited to the current state of our knowledge, but it is certainly bound to expand.

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