YEREVAN, March 5. /ARKA/. The Central Bank of Armenia has issued three collector coins dedicated to the 200th birthday of Catholicos Khrimyan Hayrik and the 100th birthday of Jansem (Hovhannes Semerdjian, 1920-2013), a French-Armenian painter.

Khrimyan Hayrik- 200

The silver coin dedicated to Khrimyan Hayrik is minted in the Lithuanian Mint in the quantity of 500. Its face value is 1,000 drams. Khrimyan Hayrik is depicted on the coin's reverse. The building of the Khrimyan Museum-gallery, a rosace, a fragment from the “Metal scoop“ spring - monument (author - Areg Israyelyan), a behest by Khrimyan Hayrik and his signature are on the obverse.
Mkrtich I Vanetsi Khrimyan (Khrimyan Hayrik, 1820-1907) is a public, political and cultural figure, Catholicos of All Armenians since 1893.
He received informal education at parochial schools on Lim and Ktuts islands in Lake Van (Vaspourakan Province, Western Armenia). He founded Armenian periodicals “Artsvi Vaspourakan” (1855) and “Artsvik Tarono” (1863), and established Zharangavorats schools (schools for clergymen) at Varagavanq Monastery and St. Karapet Monastery of Moush. In 1854 Khrimyan became a celibate priest (vardapet) and in 1868 he was consecrated as bishop. He appealed to the authorities of a number of European countries to settle the Armenian Issue diplomatically. In 1878 he headed the Armenian delegation at the Congress of Berlin. He supported the creation and operation of “Black Cross” and “Protector of Homeland”, underground organizations in Van and Karin, respectively, fighting for national liberation, for which he was exiled to Jerusalem. As the Catholicos of All Armenians, he continued his national liberation activities.
He authored books that tackled religious, philosophical, poetic and other relevant topics, by which he expressed the emotions and suffering of the people.

Jansem - 100

As many as 300 golden coins dedicated to Jansem of face value of 10,000 drams and 500 silver coins of 100 dram face value were issued. Both coins were minted in the Lithuanian Mint.
A fragment of the painter's "Woman with Masks" (1978) is on the gold coin obverse, and his portrait is on the reverse side.
On the silver coin obverse, a fragment from the “Poppies” (1982) painting, and on the reverse are a portrait of Jansem and a fragment from the “Woman in Yellow” (1968) painting.
Jansem (Hovhannes Semerdjian, 1920-2013) is a French-Armenian painter, a Foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia.
In 1922 Jansem emigrated with his family from Turkey to Thessaloniki and then to Paris. He studied at Montparnasse Free Academy, and in 1939 graduated from the Paris High School of Decorative Arts.
Jansem created dozens of artworks with national motifs, thematic groups of paintings and portraits. His distinctive works are realistic and penetrated with humaneness. Expressive light colors in combination with sensual drawing make faces and movements of the represented figures more impressive and help to go insight into the aura of painting.
Jansem was honored with a number of international and state awards, including Order of St. Mesrop Mashtots (2002) and Order of the French Legion of Honor (2003), Order of Honor of the Republic of Armenia (2010).
Jansem’s works are exhibited in many countries of the world. Many paintings are exposed in the National Gallery of Armenia, and the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute exhibits the famous “Genocide” (1998-2001) group of paintings. -0---