Contact:

Christen Graham
Office of Public Relations
617-627-5906
cgraha01@emerald.tufts.edu

Professor Lucy Der Manuelian
Tufts University Art History
617-484-0668

Armenian Architecture to Air Nationwide
Tufts University Professor Battled KGB and more to film "Lost Treasures of Christianity - The Ancient Monuments of Armenia"

MEDFORD, Mass. -- She is the last person you would suspect of battling with the KGB or chartering a Soviet helicopter to take photos. But Tufts University Art History Professor Lucy Der Manuelian did this and more in her unwavering pursuit of filming the one thousand-year-old cliffside monasteries chronicled in "Lost Treasures of Christianity."

   "I was researching my dissertation when I read of the possible connection between Armenian art and architecture and the famous cathedrals of Europe," Der Manuelian said. "Some scholars examined those medieval cathedrals, Notre Dame for example, and realized that the building techniques used by European architects for those towering churches were similar to the ones used centuries earlier by Armenian architects building their own churches."

   Professor Der Manuelian trekked to Armenia in 1988 while it was still under Soviet rule, to begin her filming, and finally concluded her documentary in 1993. In her earlier efforts to reach remote sites she was often frustrated with Soviet rules, and in one case stretched the rules of her visa to photograph churches in forbidden territory. When confronted by KGB officers she initially refused to hand over her film. But when they threatened her, Der Manuelian performed a bait and switch and turned over other film, keeping her prize secret until she could arrange to have the film smuggled to the United States.

   Those same churches are beautifully presented in "Lost Treasures of Christianity - The Ancient Monuments of Armenia." The program offers a spellbinding look at Armenia's medieval castles, churches and monasteries, stone-carved images and brilliantly illuminated manuscripts. Aerial views of monasteries carved into cliffs and perched on mountaintops were filmed from a Soviet helicopter that Der Manuelian negotiated.

    Der Manuelian holds the first endowed professorship of this subject in the world, formally titled the Arthur H. Dadian and Ara Oztemel Professor of Armenian Art and Architectural History at Tufts University in Medford, MA. "Lost Treasures of Christianity" was produced by Theodore Bogosian, narrated by Christopher Lydon and post-production services were provided by NJN Public Television.