Rafael Israelyan

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Rafael Israelyan
Rafael Israelyan.png
Born(1908-09-17)September 17, 1908
Tiflis, Russian Empire
Died September 8, 1973(1973-09-08) (aged 64)
Yerevan, Soviet Armenia
Nationality Armenian
Occupation Architect
Buildings Saint Sarkis Cathedral
Saint Vartan Cathedral
Surp Nerses Cathedral

Rafael Israelyan (Armenian : Ռաֆայել Իսրայելյան; September 17, 1908 – September 8, 1973) was an Armenian architect and designer. He is the author of an architectural heritage of civil buildings, monuments and design works.

Armenian language Indo-European language

The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken primarily by Armenians. It is the official language of Armenia. Historically being spoken throughout the Armenian Highlands, today, Armenian is widely spoken throughout the Armenian diaspora. Armenian is written in its own writing system, the Armenian alphabet, introduced in 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots.

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Background and Education

Rafael Israelyan was born in 1908 in Tbilisi, Georgia. Between 1926-1928 he studied at the architectural faculty of the Academy of Arts in Tbilisi, and then at the architectural faculty of the Institute of Communal Construction of Leningrad named after Ilya Repin. He graduated in 1934 with the title of artist-architect. In 1936 he successfully completed his courses for the master's degree at the same institute. In the same year he moved to Yerevan and started working in Yerevan city's architectural design institutions.

Tbilisi Capital city in Georgia

Tbilisi, in some countries also still known by its pre-1936 international designation Tiflis, is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million people. Founded in the 5th century AD by Vakhtang I of Iberia, since then Tbilisi served as the capital of various Georgian kingdoms and republics. Between 1801 and 1917, then part of the Russian Empire, Tbilisi was the seat of the Imperial Viceroy, governing both Southern and Northern Caucasus.

Georgia (country) Country in the Caucasus region

Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi. Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 square kilometres (26,911 sq mi), and its 2017 population is about 3.718 million. Georgia is a unitary parliamentary republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy.

Ilya Repin Russian realist painter

Ilya Yefimovich Repin was a Russian realist painter. He was the most renowned Russian artist of the 19th century, when his position in the world of art was comparable to that of Leo Tolstoy in literature. He played a major role in bringing Russian art into the mainstream of European culture. His major works include Barge Haulers on the Volga (1873), Religious Procession in Kursk Province (1883) and Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks (1880–91).

Israelyan had a long teaching career in Yerevan Polytechnic Institute between 1941 and 1963. [1] He was a member of the Architectural Commission of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin between 1956 and 1970.

After the death of Rafayel Israelyan, his son Areg, also an architect, took the responsibility to complete his father's unfinished projects.

Works and projects

Saint Sarkis Cathedral St. Sarkis, Yerevan.jpg
Saint Sarkis Cathedral
St. Vartan Cathedral, New York City StVartan Cathedral.JPG
St. Vartan Cathedral, New York City
St. Nerses Shnorhali Church, Montevideo Armenian Apostolic Church San Nerses Shnorhali, Montevideo.jpg
St. Nerses Shnorhali Church, Montevideo

Israelyan designed massive constructions of natural stone, combining neo-classicism with Armenian architectural traditions. One of his early works was the building of an intricate complex of wine cellars in 1937 for the Ararat Trust of Yerevan, its concise volumes blending organically with the rocky landscape.

During and after World War II, continuing the Armenian custom of springs that commemorated the dead, he built monuments in numerous towns and villages. He also revived the ancient Armenian tradition of the Khachkars. Israelyan was author of more than 150 residential buildings, monuments and complexes in Armenia and other countries.

World War II 1939–1945 global war

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

<i>Khachkar</i> carved, memorial stele bearing a cross, Armenian symbol

A khachkar, also known as an Armenian cross-stone is a carved, memorial stele bearing a cross, and often with additional motifs such as rosettes, interlaces, and botanical motifs. Khachkars are characteristic of Medieval Christian Armenian art.

His most famous works are the followings: [2]

Hrazdan Gorge Aqueduct cultural heritage monument of Armenia

Hrazdan Gorge Aqueduct is an aqueduct bridge across the Hrazdan River in the Armenian capital of Yerevan. It was designed by architect Rafael Israelyan and completed in 1949-1950. It was built with grey-coloured basalt stones. The aqueduct has a length of 100 metres and a width of 5 metres.

Vahagn

Vahagn Vishapakagh or Vahakn was a god of fire, thunder and war worshiped anciently in Armenia. Some time during Ancient history, he formed a "triad" with Aramazd and Anahit. Vahagn was identified with the Greek deity Heracles. The priests of Vahévahian temple, who claimed Vahagn as their own ancestor, placed a statue of the Greek hero in their sanctuary. In the Armenian translation of the Bible, "Heracles, worshipped at Tyr" is renamed "Vahagn".

Armenian Genocide systematic killing of Armenians residing in the Ottoman Empire

The Armenian Genocide, also known as the Armenian Holocaust, was the Ottoman government's systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians, mostly citizens within the Ottoman Empire. The starting date is conventionally held to be 24 April 1915, the day that Ottoman authorities rounded up, arrested, and deported from Constantinople to the region of Ankara, 235 to 270 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders, the majority of whom were eventually murdered. The genocide was carried out during and after World War I and implemented in two phases—the wholesale killing of the able-bodied male population through massacre and subjection of army conscripts to forced labour, followed by the deportation of women, children, the elderly, and the infirm on death marches leading to the Syrian Desert. Driven forward by military escorts, the deportees were deprived of food and water and subjected to periodic robbery, rape, and massacre. Other ethnic groups were similarly targeted for extermination in the Assyrian genocide and the Greek genocide, and their treatment is considered by some historians to be part of the same genocidal policy. Most Armenian diaspora communities around the world came into being as a direct result of the genocide.

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Etchmiadzin Cathedral Cultural heritage monument of Armenia

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Sardarapat Memorial plain

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