One of the most prominent examples of Armenian medieval masters’ creative skill and imagination is the ornamental script.

Armenian masters have transformed the letters of our alphabet from mere symbolic units into miniature masterpieces of ornamental art, which vividly reflect our national, cultural and spiritual values. And today these masterpieces of art are available to us thanks to the recently published book “Armenian Ornamental Script”.

The authors of the book, designer Armen Kyurkchyan and photographer Hrair Hawk Khatcheryan, have collected in this book letters from museums, archives and libraries across the world.

The author of the book Armen Kyurkchyan says that Armenian ornamental script, various in its style, color solutions, and image forms, shows the great love that Armenians have for the letter. We can find standard geometric letters and intricately interwoven letters – the evidence of an emerging calligraphy. We find letters that blossom into flowers or take flight into birds or find higher life, with a sudden burst of imagination, in human forms.

It is notable that Armenian illuminated manuscripts were decorated not only by highly skilled masters and professionals, but also by monks – sometimes even by their young students. These illustrations have their own charm. They are very simple, almost naïve, in their ingenious sincerity.

The book has its CD, which includes all the letters in the book, in digital form. Now it will be already possible not only to admire Armenian ornamental script, but also to apply it in various creative purposes.

But the main purpose of the authors is to preserve Armenian medieval ornamental script with the help of digitalization and to pass it to the coming generations. Thanks to digitalization Armenian medieval ornamental script is now available for everyone and everywhere.

Armenian Ornamental Script is the authors’ second book. Their first book was Armenian Ornamental Art, which was the result of 10 years hard work. In the CD of the book there are more than 1000 digitized pictures and their original photos.

These two books not only present Armenian medieval ornamental art and ornamental script, but also remind us where we come from.