Nationality Armenian Books Old Armenian songs | Role Poet Name Ghevont Alishan | |
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Born July 6, 1820
Constantinople, Ottoman Empire ( 1820-07-06 ) Fields Armenian Catholic priest, historian and a poet Died November 9, 1901, Venice, Italy | ||
Residence San Lazzaro degli Armeni | ||
Father Ghevont Alishan (Armenian: Ղևոնդ Ալիշան) (1820-1901; also spelled Ghevond Alishan) was an ordained Armenian Catholic priest, historian and a poet. He was awarded by the Legion of Honour of the French Academy (1866), an honorary member of the Asian Society of Italia, Archeological Society of Moscow, Venice Academy and Archeological Society of Saint-Petersburg.
John Ruskin wrote that he "always looked upon him [Padre Alishan] as a sort of saint; he has been our friend for a great many of years."
He was a member of the Mkhitarist Congregation in Venice beginning in 1838. In 1885 he created the first modern Armenian flag. His first design was a horizontal tricolor, but with a set of colors different from those used on the Armenian flag of today. The top band would be red to symbolize the first Sunday of Easter (called "Red" Sunday), the green to represent the "Green" Sunday of Easter, and finally an arbitrary color, white, was chosen to complete the combination. While in France, Alishan also designed a second flag inspired by the national Flag of France. Its colors were red, green, and blue respectively, representing the band of colors that Noah saw after landing on Mount Ararat.