JULFA AND ISPAHAN.
Julfa cathedral—The campanile—The monk—Gez—Kishmish
wine—The bishop—The church—Its decorations—The day of
judgment—The cemetery—Establishment of the Armenian captives
in Julfa—Lost arts—Armenian artificers—Graves—Story of
Rodolphe—Coffee-house—Tombstone bridges—Nunnery—Schools—Medical
missionary—Church Missionary establishment—The Lazarist Fathers.
The sights of Julfa are very few—the cathedral, or Egglesiah Wang, and
the schools of the Church Missionary Society, the cemetery, and the
nunnery, being the only objects of interest.
The Egglesiah Wang, or “big church,” is a part of the monastery of Julfa.
At the entrance, which is by a stuccoed doorway surmounted by a Latin
cross in a mud wall, is a sort of stone drinking trough, something like
our old English fonts; it is embedded in the wall. The door is of great
thickness, so that in disturbed times the monks would be safe against
attacks of Mussulmans; and for the same reason the entrance is narrow
and winding. On emerging from this short passage, one comes to the
outer court, in one corner of which are the graves of a few Europeans
who have either died in Julfa or been brought here for burial. These
are noted in Sir F. Goldsmid’s ‘Telegraph and Travel,’ and some of the
Latin inscriptions are translated into English verse by him. A large
campanile of imposing appearance and peculiar (qy. Russian) style, stands
in the centre; it is new and well made, and consists of a brick tower
standing on stone columns, and containing three bells. The rest of the
courtyard is occupied by logs of wood from the monastery garden brought
here to season previous to being sold to the Julfa carpenters. Armenians
are very unromantic. The monastery church has a door opening into this
courtyard, but entrance is usually effected through a passage, in which
are the tombs of former bishops; these are mostly mere blocks of stone
let into the ground, but the two last bishops have more ambitious mural
monuments; the last, Thaddeus, having a black marble tablet, probably cut
in India, with an inscription (_in English_), setting forth his virtues;
over all is his photograph. There is an inner entrance in this passage
of railings, and the walls have some small trap-doors through which the
monks in stricter days used to confess the laity—at least the females.
A few miserable daubs on plaster in this passage represent Saint Michael
weighing good and evil spirits, etc. To the right is a low door,
which leads to the church; at the extremity of the passage is a large
courtyard, which contains the apartments occupied by the Arachnoort and
the little bishop Christopher.
There is no pretension to magnificence in these. The rooms of Christopher
are small, and comfortable in a humble manner; a few religious engravings
and paintings of saints that Wardour Street would not look at, hang on
the walls; it is carpeted with cheap rugs, and a mattress and a couple
of cushions form the furniture; in the corner is the tall, silver-headed
ebon staff of the little bishop; in a recess stand his conical hat and
hood. A room quite without ornament forms his bedroom, and his property,
a few years ago considerable, he has made over to the Church.
The little bishop is a gouty man, and does not indulge, though there
are legends that in his youth his potations were pottle deep; he does
not even smoke, but he snuffs—a thing that most of the old people in
Julfa do. A jovial old man in a skull-cap and flowing black robes, he
insists on regaling one with gez; a sort of sweetmeat, prepared from
the gezanjebine, a mawkish exudation from a plant found in the desert
near here, and akin to manna; it is mixed with sugar and made up into
round cakes with almonds or pistachios. It is impossible to break these
cakes with the finger; they will bend freely, but on striking them with
a hammer or another cake, they fracture at once. Ispahan is celebrated
through Persia for this sweetmeat, and large quantities are sent away
in every direction. In Julfa and Ispahan the gez is always offered on
the arrival of a guest, and urgently pressed on one; it is considered
impolite to refuse. The flavour is merely sickly sweet, and it sticks
to the jaws like butter-scotch; it is white in colour, and very cloying.
The monk, too, always has a glass of good old Kishmish wine for his
friends. The Kishmish grape is the smallest in Persia; it is a bright
yellow colour, and very sweet; it is, when dried, what we call the
Sultana raisin. The wine is a golden yellow, delicious when quite new,
but terribly heady. It is a great favourite with the Armenians, as it is
quickly intoxicating. As a rule it will not keep well, but when it does
is not to be despised. A glass of arrack is offered as an alternative,
and this is more suited to the native taste; it is, as a rule, what is
called in India “fixed bayonets.”
The monk is a laughing philosopher, and generally has some store of local
yarns; in fact, he is a sort of “vieulx Parchemins,” and his tales would
have astonished and delighted the author of the ‘Contes drolatiques.’
Passing under the guidance of the monk we ascend on the further side
of the courtyard a long staircase and enter a huge empty room newly
carpeted, which brings us to the curtained doorway of the bishop’s
private apartment. On the walls, decorated with many figures in cut
plaster of the Russian eagle (for the bishop is a Russian subject, and
wisely takes care that the Persian authorities shall know it),[15] hang
some twenty daubs in oil of saints and sacred scenes; these are more
pretentiously framed than those in the monk’s room, but of equal value. A
high chair, considerably ornamented with native carvings, is the bishop’s
habitual seat, and at its side is a table covered with well-bound books,
which at my first visit considerably impressed me; but I found out
afterwards that they were always the same books, so my respect for the
literary attainments of the Arachnoort somewhat diminished.
After a decorous interval the bishop enters, a handsome man—a man who
would create a _furore_ in England—a man with large, dreamy, black eyes,
which he uses as much as the late Mr. Fechter, a pale and interesting
face, and a long, silky beard, well combed, and black as the raven’s
wing. From his neck hang an amethyst cross and a large portrait of the
Virgin, in an oval enamel surrounded by paste. Clad in black lined with
violet, his tall conical cap and flowing black hood give a fine stage
picture, which is completed by a gentle raising of the hand (a white
and delicate hand) as if to bless; a soft, whispering, almost purring
voice, completed the charm of a man who in some other sphere would
have doubtless achieved the success usually attained by great personal
attractiveness. A sort of smile, as of a superior nature compassionating
itself, spreads over his handsome face, and in a whisper he asks after
one’s health. The glossy beard is stroked, the black eyes are rolled;
coffee is brought, a kalian, and the visitor retires, after much bowing
on both sides.
The church alone remains to be seen, for the monastery itself is not in
use, the cells being filled with firewood and corn. The church is not
large, and is divided by a row of coarsely-painted wooden rails into
two compartments, the outer and larger one, which is surmounted by a
dome, being decorated with large paintings in oil of the events in Bible
history from the creation. There is nothing particularly remarkable in
these; most are copied from well-known pictures, while others are amusing
in their naïveness. The general effect is good, a sort of gorgeousness
being produced by so many yards of brightly-painted canvas. All round
the walls are modern tile-work, presenting a florid pattern of green
leaves on a white ground. The general effect of this is not bad. The
episcopal throne is placed just beyond the railings, and consists of
an elaborately-carved and ornamented chair, covered by a wooden domed
canopy, gilt and painted in gaudy colours. A few feet in front of this is
a raised platform, some four feet from the ground, running back into a
recess. This can be curtained off at pleasure; a gaudy curtain hangs at
either side of it. At the extremity of the recess is the altar; there is
only one in the church. It has a sort of cabinet for the host, and has
numerous smaller platforms above it, each a few inches high; on these are
coarsely painted a few figures of saints.
All round the church run various pictures of martyrdoms, some of them
horrible in their grim realness, others as intensely ridiculous. Here are
shown the various sufferings of Ripsimeh virgin and martyr, also Gregor;
these are the chief saints in the Armenian calendar.
Illustrations are also seen of the parables and miracles. One of these is
the man who had the beam in his eye seeing the mote in his brother’s. The
mote is depicted as a moat, and the beam as a huge beam of wood.
A painful daub, framed, and meant for the Entombment, is gravely
exhibited as a Raphael, and once it was intimated to me that a good
offer would not be refused. It is even copied on the outer wall near the
bishops’ tombs.
But the bouquet of the whole collection is the _great_ picture of the
Day of Judgment. All the persons of the Trinity are depicted, and the
heavenly hosts are shown with the delights of heaven. These are, however,
in the upper part of the picture, and of small size; but in the lower
part, that representing the pangs of hell, the artist has given free vent
to his taste for horrors.
New ideas for bogey might be derived from his very vivid treatment of
the devils. George Cruikshank, the devil-drawer _par excellence_, is
nowhere with the Eastern artist. These devils are life-size, and so are
the nude male and female figures suffering torments. The mouth of hell is
represented as a yawning beast, vomiting fire and smoke, into the jaws
of which the nude wicked are tumbling. As a popular preacher is reported
to have said, “The devil feeds you on fire, and if you don’t take it
properly you get touched up with the spoon.” This is actually represented.
The position of the picture is well chosen, being over the door. All
the congregation must see it on going out; and if they feel certain of
getting their deserts, it must make them uncomfortable indeed.
Julfa was once a very large place, having twenty-four well-populated
parishes, and the Armenians were extremely prosperous. A large
village, with valuable lands, and an energetic trading population, the
agricultural portion of the community being market gardeners, within a
couple of miles of the then capital Ispahan; it was a very different
place from the Julfa of to-day, which contains merely a population of
old men, women, and girls, the better description of male having all
emigrated. Ispahan, too, is now merely a vast ruin, with small local
trade and few wants. Shah Abbas the Great brought away the entire
population of Julfa on the Araxes, which now marks the Russo-Persian
frontier on the road between Tabriz and Tiflis, and is now merely a
village of a few hovels; and, giving them lands in the immediate and
best part of the environs of Ispahan, in fact its present site, called
it Julfa. The far-seeing monarch sought to introduce the thrifty trading
habits of the Armenian among his own subjects, and to give an impulse
to the commerce of his country, and the Julfa artisans in those days
were not to be despised; travelling east and west, they brought many
arts from Europe, India, and China. The weaving of shawls at Kerman and
Yezd is still an important trade, and only the connoisseur can detect
the difference between the Cashmere shawl and its imitation, that of
Kerman: probably the European would prefer the Kermani one. Silk weaving
was doubtless brought from China to Yezd. Coarse imitations of the
Chinese porcelain are to this day common in Persia, but the art is dead.
Enamelling, which the Armenians practised, and even patronised—for in the
Persian collection in the South Kensington Museum may be seen a large
enamelled tray, quite a unique specimen, which bears an inscription
saying it was made for ⸺, prince of the Armenians—is a dying art.
As jewellers these people attain great proficiency. Any really difficult
work was always brought by the native gold or silver smiths of Ispahan to
be finished by an Armenian of Julfa, one Setrak. The trade of watchmaker,
or rather watchmender, is almost monopolised in Persia by Armenians; and
my former dispenser was a very good drug-compounder, having received his
instruction when a convict in India, serving his time after committing a
burglary with violence.
The cemetery lies on a bare and stony plain, under a lofty hill called
the Kūh Sufi. When Ispahan was the capital this plain was all under
cultivation by irrigation, the remains of the canals being yet visible:
here lie the inhabitants of Julfa, and also a few Europeans. Each ancient
grave is marked by a huge block of stone of a cube form, the upper face
being, however, generally larger than the under one. Some are nine feet
long, a yard high, and two feet wide. Many of the stones have Dutch,
Latin, and French inscriptions. One of these latter is the well-known
one of the watchmaker to Shah Abbas the Great. “Cy gît Rodolfe” is the
inscription it bears; and here lies Rodolphe, who was a great favourite
of the king, Abbas the Great. He was a youth of great beauty, and the
king was much attached to him. Having killed a Mahommedan after being
struck by the latter, he was offered the usual choice of Islam or death.
He preferred the latter; and though the king is said to have given him
ample time for reflection, and to have promised him rank and wealth if
he would apostatise, preferring death to dishonour, he was executed, and
interred beneath this stone. It is very difficult to get at the exact
details of this story, as there are many versions. It is told first by
Chardin or Tavernier. Just at the entrance to the burial-ground, by
crossing a ditch, over a bridge _composed of old tombstones_, one comes
to the Kaweh-Khana of the Armenians, a mud building of two stories. Here
in wet weather the funerals halt, and here on their return the mourners
stay to partake of wine and arrack. All through Persia the habit of
utilising tombstones for building bridges occurs, and is not confined
to the Armenians. Ispahan, which is surrounded by huge cemeteries and
intersected by many watercourses, presents many instances of these
tombstone bridges.
There is little to see in the nunnery. The revenues which have been, and
are, plundered by the priests and those in authority, are very small.
Very few nuns are now encouraged to take the veil. The scandals have been
many, and instances of cruel punishments have not been wanting. One nun
was expelled, but is now leading a reformed life in the Church Missionary
Society’s establishment, being employed as a teacher of sewing. The
nunnery has a large school, and the girls are taught to sew and
embroider, also to knit socks. Long portions of Scripture are committed
to memory, and the ancient Armenian Bible is read, but not translated.
Of course, as the ancient and modern languages are quite different, the
power of reading what one does not understand is rather useless.
But the schools of Julfa have received a great accession in the
establishment of those of the Church Missionary Society, which are now
(1883) conducted by Dr. Hoernle and Mr. Johannes, the former being a
medical missionary (_i. e._ a medical man in priest’s orders), and the
latter a young Armenian gentleman, who was educated in England, and at
one time a master in the Nassick School in India. All that is taught
in a middle-class school in England is taught in the Church Missionary
Society school in Julfa; and the upper form proceed to the first four
books of Euclid, Algebra, Latin, and French, in which, unlike the
smattering of a middle-class school at home, a thorough grounding is
given. Dr. Hoernle, too, sees all comers gratuitously, and administers
to their ailments. He has a large apartment as a consulting-room, with
convenient waiting-rooms for either sex. Another room has been set apart
as a hospital, where the more serious cases are treated surgically;
and the Church Missionary Society certainly has not spared money in
benefiting the inhabitants of Julfa.
Some orphan-boys are fed, clothed, and educated with the others, and
gradually it is hoped to make the school self-supporting; but I fear
that the Julfa people will hardly pay for what they are used to get
gratuitously. A girls’ school has also been commenced by Mrs. Bruce, and
sufficient funds having been collected to obtain a schoolmistress, in
November 1882 one went out. The Rev. Dr. Bruce, who commenced the work in
Julfa, is engaged in translating the Bible into Persian, and portions of
it have been completed and published.
All the difficulties which were first thrown in the way of proselytism
_among the Armenians_, have now been surmounted, and a considerable
number of converts have been made from the Armenian Christians to the
tenets of the Church of England. But as yet no converts have been made
from the Mahommedans. These, however, are encouraged to come to the
services, in the hope of arousing their curiosity; but they simply seem
to come for the show, only presenting themselves very occasionally. The
magnificent establishment kept up by the Church Missionary Society is
the wonder of the Persians, and Dr. Bruce has succeeded, principally by
having expended large sums of money in building in Julfa, and employing
many labourers, in securing the respect of the Julfa Armenians.
Employment is sought to be given to the less gifted among the scholars in
a factory where various arts are taught, such as weaving, but this does
not appear a success. The clever artisans, Baabis, nominally Mussulmans,
employed by Dr. Bruce as decorators and builders, have made a really
handsome series of buildings, perhaps a little florid. These men have
been able to show their great skill in decoration, and the beautiful
geometrical patterns on the outer wall of the church, the hand-painted
screen which runs round the eaves of the courtyard, and the incised
decorations in stucco in the interior of the church, representing
parrots, flowers, etc., are curious in the extreme.
This church can seat three hundred comfortably; the effect is good of the
pale yellow of the plaster and the coloured glass of the windows.
Every door and window in the house, etc., is beautifully made,
stained, glazed, and varnished, and fitting accurately; in fact, one
feels a little envious when one leaves one’s poor Persian quarters,
with ill-fitting doors and windows, for this handsome European-like
establishment.
On leaving the first courtyard, which contains the private quarters of
Dr. Bruce and the church, one enters the school. Three sides of a large
courtyard are occupied by schoolrooms, and a fine playground is in the
middle, with a large stone hauz, or tank, handsomely built. In this the
boys in hot weather daily bathe. Here, too, are parallel bars, a vaulting
pole, and a giant’s stride; beyond this is another courtyard, containing
a vineyard, the technical school, the dispensary, and rooms for the
orphans. Other rooms, but small and poor, are occupied by the girls’
school, which is, however, I believe, to be enlarged, and an English
teacher, too, has lately gone out for the girls. Another large house
adjoining is occupied by the steward of the orphans, while at the other
side are built a set of European stables. A garden is hired by Dr. Bruce,
where he cultivates successfully all kinds of European vegetables for his
table.
There is no doubt that so large an establishment, vying with that of the
bishop in size, and far exceeding it in the amount of money expended, and
the number of hands employed, is of great benefit to the Julfa people.
The influence of the priests is on its last legs, and the education given
is very thorough, while gratuitous medical attendance is provided by Dr.
Hoernle. This, however, is indiscriminately given to Mussulmans as well
as Armenians. Of course the great hope is that the benefits of the school
may be permitted to the Mahommedan population of the town; but this, I
fear, will never be. Let us hope I may be wrong.
The small establishment of the Lazarist Fathers, which is the next
house to the vast range of buildings belonging to the Church Missionary
Society, presents a great contrast.
The priest, with his two ragged servants, has much to do to keep body
and soul together, and he teaches a small school of both sexes, where
the course is less ambitious than that of the English missionaries.
His flock, some two hundred strong, remains faithful to its ancient
tenets, and has as yet given no recruits to the rival establishment.
This is strange, as the Armenian Church has furnished the whole of some
hundred and twenty Armenian boys, and two hundred Armenian communicants
to the Church of England in Julfa; but as many of these latter benefit
directly or indirectly, or are merely _temporary_ Protestants to annoy
their relatives, or to obtain protection, the result of the whole thing
cannot be considered a success as yet—in eleven years a single Mahommedan
convert not having been obtained.