The ring of Misak Metsarents

The poet Misak Metsarents was born in January 1886 and died on 5 July 1908. He lived only 22 years, yet together with Vahan Terian, Siamanto and Ruben Sevak he became one of the brightest representatives of modern literature. His two books made him one of the central figures of Western Armenian poetry in his own lifetime.

When the poet’s health worsened, his mother gave him a gold ring with an agate as a symbol of protection from evil forces. According to the source, the words engraved on the stone mean “Unconditional love will protect us from fear”. According to legend, the stone cracked shortly before the poet’s death. The photograph shows the cracks in the red stone and the two-line Armenian inscription.

In 1985 Vahan Ghazaryan sent the ring to the Yeghishe Charents Museum of Literature and Arts in Yerevan, where it is kept to this day.