Toros Roslin in Massachusetts:
How Medieval Armenian Treasures arrived in the USA

Heghnar Zeitlian Watenpaugh

Thursday, May 21, 6:30PM
Armenian Church of Our Saviour
Church Hall

Armenians who immigrated to the United States brought with them with their families, language, culture, and sometimes also sacred books and objects from their hometowns. Especially after the Armenian Genocide of 1915, masterpieces of Armenian medieval art arrived in the United States. Some were later incorporated into the collections of some of the USA’s most prestigious museums. This talk will focus in particular on the works of Toros Roslin, one of the greatest medieval Armenian illuminators. Several works signed by Roslin, and others attributed to him are located today in American museums, including the Canon Tables from the Zeytun Gospels of 1256, today at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Before arriving in Los Angeles, the Canon Tables of the Zeytun Gospels spent decades in a family home in Watertown, Mass. This talks tells the stories of families, immigration, sacred art, and the movement to reclaim Armenian cultural heritage today.