On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Hymnal Depicting the Battle of Avarayr
Not on view
Fifteenth- and sixteenth-century scribes working within monasteries in the Lake Van region preserved Armenia’s earliest secular texts by including national literature in religious manuscripts. This illumination depicts the Battle of Avarayr in 450/51, during which the Armenians under Persian rule revolted against an edict to practice Zoroastrianism. On the left, the Persian army on elephants approaches the Armenian general Vardan Mamikonian, on a white horse on the right, leading his huddled cavalry.
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