Join us on 3 March 2025!
The Arakelots monastery and settlement site, located amidst the forests along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, is distinctive not only because it houses a fortified monastery and various well-preserved 13th-century settlement monuments, but also because it provides a unique opportunity to learn about the political and economic life of the Armenian Middle Ages through these monuments.
Arakelots is made up of numerous individual monuments, which have survived a turbulent 13th century period of Georgian and Mongol rule, religious conflicts between Orthodox Georgians and Apostolic Armenians, and the increasing influence of Islam to such an astonishing degree – and yet have remained virtually unexplored and unprotected. Unfortunately, the site has been forgotten, especially the settlement, mainly due to poor research and lack of knowledge of Arakelots’ significance. As a sacred site, the monastery remains of great importance to the local population.
In this presentation, Jasmine Dum-Tragut will not only unveil the mysteries of the forgotten and overgrown Arakelots settlement and the significance of the monastery, but will also provide insights into the research, documentation, and preservation of Armenian cultural heritage, as well as the challenges in achieving recognition for Armenian cultural heritage within European cultural heritage organisations.
This will be the third webinar of a series of FRH Talks dedicated to ambitious initiatives and resilient solutions to save endangered religious heritage sites. The three heritage sites presented in these webinars are all shortlisted in the 7 Most Endangered Programme 2025.
Join us on Monday 3 March and contribute to the conversation about the safeguarding of our endangered religious heritage treasures.
Speakers
Jasmine Dum-Tragut
Jasmine Dum-Tragut is an Associate Professor of Armenian Studies and Linguistics who directs the University of Salzburg’s Centre for the Study of the Christian East and its Armenian Studies Division, and works as senior scientist at the Department of Biblical Studies and Church History. For many years, she has been conducting interdisciplinary research projects that explore diverse aspects of Armenian cultural heritage, encompassing both tangible and intangible elements.
Her research interests include the transfer of knowledge in medieval scientific manuscripts from the Near East and Caucasus region, the tangible and intangible heritage associated with female monastic culture in Southern Armenia and Karabakh, as well as the monuments situated within the Vorotan Canyon in Syunik. Since Sept. 1, 2023 she heads the Dept. ‘Interdisciplinary Armenian Cultural heritage studies’, based at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of Academy of Sciences of Armenia. Furthermore, since the Second Karabakh War in 2020, she has campaigned to preserve the Armenian spiritual and cultural heritage in Karabakh.
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