DAY THREE

Los Angeles: The 400th anniversary of the founding of the historic Armenian community of New Julfa or Nor Jugha in Iran will be marked with a three-day conference sponsored by the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History at the University of California, Los Angeles and cosponsored by International Institute, G.E. von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies, and the Center for European and Eurasian Studies.

Chair Holder and conference organizer Professor Richard Hovannisian has invited specialists from Armenia, Iran, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, and various institutions in the United States to explore the history, art and architecture, religious administrative, and social structures, international trade and commerce, crafts and professions, Iranian-Armenian and European-Armenian interchanges, language and dialect, folklore and literature, and the current state of the community.

   An unprecedented number of scholars from Armenia will participate in this, the thirteenth in the UCLA series on Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces. Three of seven will speak during the opening session in Armenian on Friday evening, November 14, starting at 7:30 p.m. in the Glendale Presbyterian Church at 125 South Louise Street at Harvard Street. Hrachik Mirzoyan, Murad Hasratyan, and Jemma Barnasyan will speak on the New Julfa historical phenomenon, architecture, and dialect. They will be joined by Very Reverend Shahan Sarkissian, the primate of New Julfa, who will give an overview of the diocese today.

The Saturday and Sunday sessions, November 15-16, will be held on the UCLA campus in Young Hall, Court of Sciences 50. The Saturday sessions are from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and will be entirely in English.

They include noted art historians, cultural historians, and specialists in the wide-ranging commercial activities of the New Julfa merchants—from Yerevan, Shushanik Khachikyan (Lazarian Trade Company) and Raisa Amirbekyan (Armenian-Iranian Cultural Relations); from Malaga, Spain, John Carswell (New Julfa, Past and Present); from Manchester, Edmund Herzig (New Julfa and the East India Company) and from Oxford, Amy Landau (Arakel Tavrizhetsi); from Brussels, Sayeh Laporte-Eftekharian  (Western Iconographic Models); from the United States, Richard Hovannisian (Historical Overview), Ina Baghdiantz McCabe (Armenians in Safavid Iran), Vazken Ghougassian (Social and Administrative Structures), Sylvie Merian (New Julfa Manuscripts), Sebouh Aslanian (Indian Ocean Julfan Merchants and English Prize Laws), and Vartan Matiossian (Connections to Spain and South America).
  
The Sunday sessions will begin at 1:30 in the afternoon in Young Hall at UCLA. The first afternoon session will be in Armenian—from Yerevan, Artsvi Bakhchinyan (New Julfa Merchants and Northern Europe), and Ashot Stepanyan (Daily Life Styles in the 17th-18th Centuries); from Aachen Germany, Armen Hakhnazarian (New Julfa Architecture and Vandalism in Old Julfa).
    
The second Sunday afternoon session will be in English—from Kuwait, Archbishop Goriun Babian (Western Models of Wall-Paintings); and from the United States, Bert Vaux (New Julfa Dialect), Anahid Keshishian (Everyday Life in Song and Verse), and Leonardo Alishan (Sumbat's Paintings and Leonardo's Poetry).

All sessions are without charge and open to the public. UCLA parking on Saturday and Sunday is in Parking Structure No. 2, Entrance at Hilgard at Westholme Avenues (between Sunset Boulevard and Le Conte Avenue) The UCLA campus map may be accessed on the web at www.ucla.edu/map and the conference program may be viewed at www.UCLAArmenian.org. 

Friday, November 14, 2003, Glendale Presbyterian Church 7:30-10:00 p.m.

New Julfa—Four Centuries
Richard G. Hovannisian, University of California, Los Angeles

A Historical-Philosophical Analysis of the New Julfa Phenomenon
Hrachik Mirzoyan, Erevan State University

The Distinct Architectural Characteristics of the Armenian Churches of New Julfa
Murad Hasratyan, Institute of the Arts, Erevan

IRANAHAY MIUTIUN/ARMENIAN SOCIETY—CULTURAL PROGRAM
 
The New Julfa Dialect According to Hrachia Acharyan's "Study of the New Julfa Dialect"
Jemma Barnasyan, Acharyan Linguistic Institute, Erevan

The Present State of the Armenian Diocese of New Julfa and Southern Iran
Shahan Vardapet Sarkissian, Primate, New Julfa

Saturday, November 15, 2003

Young Hall, CS 50, UCLA Campus, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Sessions in English
10:00-1:00

The New Julfa Saga
Richard Hovannisian, UCLA

New Julfa, Past and Present
John Carswell, Malaga, Spain

The Armenian Diaspora in Safavid Iran: Conversion, Acculturation, and Resistance
Ina Baghdiantz McCabe, Tufts University

The Social and Internal Administrative Structure of New Julfa in the 17th Century
Vazken Ghougassian, Armenian Church Eastern Prelacy, New York

                 INTERMISSION

Arakel Davrizhetsi and Safavid Aesthetics
Amy Landau, Oxford University

Seventeenth Century Manuscripts of New Julfa: Reflections of a Cosmopolitan Society
Sylvie Merian, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City

Circulation and Use of Prints with Religious Subjects in Safavid Persia: The New Julfa Case
Sâyeh Laporte-Eftekharian, Université Libre de Bruxelles

               LUNCH INTERMISSION

 2:00-5:30 P.M.

Relations between the New Julfa Merchants and the English East India Company Reconsidered
Edmund Herzig, University of Manchester

The Lazarian Trade Company According to Harutiun Lazarian's Ledger and Correspondence
Shushanik Khachikyan, Mashtots Matenadaran, Erevan

The Discovery of a Treasure Trove of New Julfa Mercantile Letters
Sebouh Aslanian, Columbia University

                  INTERMISSION

New Julfa as an Armenian-Iranian Cultural Contact Zone in the Period of Qajar Rule
Raisa Amirbekyan, Caucasian Center for Iranian Studies, Erevan

A Far West Story: From New Julfa to Spain and South America
Vartan Matiossian, Universidad del Salvador, Buenos Aires,
and Hovnanian School of New Jersey
                 
Discussion

Sunday, November 16, 1:30-5:30 P.M.

First Session in Armenian

Northern Europe and the Armenian Merchants of New Julfa
Artsvi Bakhchinyan, Erevan

The Life-Style Culture of New Julfa during the 17th-18th Centuries: Arts and Crafts
Ashot Stepanyan, Institute of Oriental Studies, Erevan

The Architecture of New Julfa
Armen Hakhnazarian, Research on Armenian Architecture, Aachen, Germany

                             INTERMISSION

Second Session in English

Western Models for the Wall Paintings of Holy Savior's Cathedral and St. Bethlehem Church
Archbishop Goriun Babian, Prelate, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates, and Former Prelate, New Julfa

The Armenian Dialect of New Julfa
Bert Vaux, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

The Depictions of Everyday Life in Song and Verse of the New Julfa Region
Anahid Keshishian, University of California, Los Angeles

Images of New Julfa: Sumbat's Paintings and Some Remembrances
Leonardo Alishan, University of Utah

Discussion

Photographic Exhibit by Richard and Anne Elizabeth Elbrecht, Davis, California

Contact: Professor R.G. Hovannisian
University of California, Los Angeles 90095-1473
e-mail: Hovannis@history.ucla.edu
fax: 310-206-9630; telephone: 310-825-3375

Cost : Free