On June 14, the Armenian Museum of America, Watertown, MA, will present a lecture by Dr. Richard G. Hovannisian on “The Armenians of Gesaria: From Evkere and Talas to Mount Arkeos, Chomakhlu, and Evereg.”

Hovannisian was the UCLA Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History and Distinguished Chancellor’s Fellow at Chapman University, Orange County, California. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and has received many honors for his scholarship, civic activities, and advancement of Armenian studies, including election to the Armenian National Academy of Sciences.

Drawing on his research for contribution to the 12th in a series of volumes on historic Armenian cities and provinces, Armenian Kesaria/Kayseri and Cappadocia, Hovannisian will give a presentation with PowerPoint illustrations and selected film shorts of the region’s Armenian history and the significant roles played by Armenians, both in urban and rural Kesaria/Gesaria (now Kayseri). The Armenian presence in Cappadocia and Kesaria dates back to the times of Tigran the Great and Gregory the Illuminator. Down through the centuries Armenian communities in the area grew in number and size.

Hovannisian has visited Kesaria several times.