In a preface to his script, Parajanov made it clear that his film was not just about the life of Sayat Nova, but to evoke the world in which he lived. He did this by exploring what he called “textures”: architecture, paintings, mosaics, landscapes, and frescoes, such as this, through which, as he put it, “the authenticity of the era and the authenticity of portraits and plastic arts of 18th-century Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan are achieved”
Source: theguardian.com