Cold War, Communism, and Independence (1945–1991). Italophone Perspective.

The two-volume set that the gentle reader has just opened is the outcome of a joint effort originating from the collaborative project Cultural Interactions in the Medieval Subcaucasian Region: Historiographical and Art-Historical Perspectives (GF21-01706L). Funded by the Czech Science Foundation (gačr) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (snsf), the research that led to the conception and realization of this book brought together scholars from the Universities of Fribourg and Brno under the joint supervision of the two principal investigators Michele Bacci and Ivan Foletti. For three years, scholars from both research groups gathered regularly and exchanged knowledge, methodological inputs, and scholarly drafts at various stages of completion. Naturally, this also meant that we confronted each other’s ideas in an open and stimulating critical debate. Field research in Georgia and Armenia and regular meetings fostering numerous exchanges of insights have thus brought about a truly valuable international symbiosis that aims here to propose an innovative look at medieval art from one of the most interesting (and still often neglected) geographic areas on the border between Asia and Europe. The first volume aims to presents a first, long-overdue overview of the mechanisms through which the history of the last two centuries has contributed (sometimes devastatingly) to the marginalization of what were major centers of pre-modern culture. It takes a sharp look at the influence of the social and political climate on those figures writing histories and shaping current events. The second volume aims, starting from relevant case studies from Armenian and Georgian contexts, to provide a fresh interpretive framework to medieval sacred space as a dynamic experiential environment that structures both individual and collective approaches to the “metahuman” sphere. With this work, we aim to follow in the steps of such scholars – to cite only a few of our dear colleagues – as Patrick Donabédian, Antony Eastmond, Timothy Greenwood, Armen Kazarjan, Dickran Kouymijan, Christina Maranci, Annegret Plontke-Lüning, Ioanna Rapti, Stefano Riccioni, Zaza Skhirtladze, and Gerhard Wolf, who are so strongly engaged in giving an international dimension to the investigation of the visual cultures of the Southern Caucasus and in fostering deeper knowledge of one of the most significant regions in the history of human culture. preface Michele Bacci, Ivan Foletti 12 At the end of this long journey, we would like to express our gratitude to all those who made this project possible. First, the members of the Fribourg and Brno teams, who are also the authors of the essays published in this work. Second, the institutions that offered their collaboration and helped us in many circumstances, such as the Giorgi Chubinashvili Institute for Georgian Art History and Heritage Preservation in Tbilisi, the Georgian National Museum in its different branches, the Matenadaran Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, and the Embassies of the Republics of Armenia and Georgia in Switzerland and in the Czech Republic. Third, special thanks go to Jaś Elsner who graciously agreed to read the entire first volume and to provide his broader insights on the many steps which are still ahead toward a critical historiography of our field of art history. Lastly, but certainly not least, we thank the many colleagues in both countries who assisted us especially in our fieldwork activities, in particular Nazénie Garibian, Ekaterine Gedevanishvili, Ciciane and Mzia Guledani, Zaruhi Hakobyan and Mariam Japaridze, and the many more who, with their discussions and suggestions, contributed to the constant checking of our working hypotheses and research objectives.