Printing Pilgrimage: Replication and Imagination between Tokat and Jerusalem

Altar curtains played a major role in creating discrete spaces between actors of liturgical ritual by separating the congregation from celebrating bishops, priests, and deacons. Inscriptions document important information concerning the production and afterlife of each curtain, such as the church it was destined for, the printer responsible for its design, and the name of its donor. This article explores the circumstances surrounding the production and function of block-printed curtains commissioned by Armenian pilgrims returning from Jerusalem in Tokat, a burgeoning industrial center in the northern provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Special attention is paid to the technical peculiarities, ritual setting, and intended audience of the printed altar curtain—a microcosm of Ottoman Armenian industry, pilgrimage