100 Dram Hovhannes Aivazovsky

Hovhannes Aivazovsky was born Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky in Feodosia, Crimea in 1817 to an Armenian family — the Armenianized form of his name was adopted later in life and is the form officially recognized by Armenia. He spent the bulk of his career in Feodosia rather than any major imperial capital, which was itself a political statement of sorts. Armenia's claim on him as a national figure is legitimate but contested: Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia have all found reasons to count him among their own.

The 2006 issue falls within a sustained Armenian program of silver commemoratives honoring diaspora cultural figures, launched in the mid-1990s as the newly independent republic worked to consolidate a national cultural identity distinct from Soviet framing.