URARTIAN MOTIVES IN ARMENIAN DECORATIVE-APPLIEDARTS OF THE SECOND HALF XXCENTURYAND THEBEGINNING OF THE XXI CENTURY (METAL WORK AND CARPET WEAVING ART)

Archeological excavations done by academic Piotrovsky from 1930 in Karmir-Blur and later by K.Hovhannisyan from1952 to 1970in ArinBerd (Erebuni) openedthe first chapters of Armenian history and culture for the humanity, the kingdom of Urartu. Excellent items of decorative arts, such us products from gold, bronze and clay were preserved from that ancient time.

The first solemn celebration of the 2750th Anniversary of Yerevan took place in 1968.The national festival effected the ethnic identity of Armenians, increased the sense of nationaldignity and gave them a special feeling: being successors of Urartian civilization. These events definitely encouraged many artisans and artists to create new masterworks.

The Urartian articles with all their inherent simplicity and generalization were very close to the modern style. They served as a base for the creation of various products with Urartian theme in ceramics, artistic processing of metal, wood and stone, carpet weaving and other fields of decorative applied arts.

This article analyzes 2 fields of the decorative applied arts: the artistic processing of metal and the carpet weaving. The first field is presented with the help of A.Berberyan’s works and the second one is presented with the help of the design carpets of the Haygorg’s artists.