National Art Gallery of Armenia was founded in 1921. Its extensive collection
of Armenian, Russian and Western European
art numbers over 19000 items. It is
one of
richest museums of the former Soviet Union. In those days it incorporated archaeological,
ethnographical and art departments. The National Place Name Art Gallery Armenia constitutes a part of a special and unequalled
museum world, a source of aesthetic
and intellectual
delights.
Armenian art is based, to a certain extent,
on a synthesis of Western and Eastern
cultures.
The poet Valery Briusov wrote in 1916:
"Two
forces, two cultures, by crossing one
another,
interwining and merging into something
new
and unified, directed the life of Armenia,
and moulded the character of its people
throughout
the millennia: the culture of the West
and
the East, the spirit of Europe and
the spirit
of Asia".
Whereas the art of ancient developed within the framework of the artistic
traditions of the ancient East (in
particular,
Urartu), Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and also of Hellenism, Armenian art in
the Middle Ages was influenced by the
art
of other countries. One finds in Armenian
art certain subjects and ornamental
motifs
characteristic of the countries of
the Mediterranean and the Near East.
