Depository Of Manuscripts Tour

Depository of Manuscripts

Day 1: Arrival

Day 2: Visit the Depository of Manuscripts

Matenadaran - Depositary of the manuscript that contains historical documents from all over Europe and Asia throughout many centuries. There is also the first copy of the Bible in Armenian and the Gospels that fascinate with their beautiful miniatures. Our tourists say that Matenadaran is unique in the world.

Day 3: Departure

Transfer to the airport. Departure home!

For prices and availabilities please contact us.

Know More About Matenadaran:

On the slope of one of the picturesque hills of Yerevan, on the northern outskirts of Mesrop Mashtots Avenue, rises one of the most modern monuments of Armenian architecture – Matenadaran – a unique research institute of ancient manuscripts, where ancient treasures of Armenian spiritual culture are preserved and studied. Matenadaran has a century-long history. As early as the 5th century in Echmiadzin, a repository of manuscripts was founded, on the basis of which the present Matenadaran began to develop in the future. The word Matenadaran itself is translated from the ancient Armenian as a “repository of manuscripts”.

Before the invention of printing, the Armenians, like many other nations, used to write books manually and called them the manuscript. In ancient times, the monks wrote on parchment and only from the 10th century on paper.

Since the creation of the Armenian alphabet in 405, and then over the centuries, thousands of books with different contents were written and copied. Usually, manuscripts were kept in libraries adjacent to monasteries, but most of them were destroyed as a result of numerous enemy attacks. The last time Matenadaran in Etchmiadzin was destroyed in 1804. In 1828, with the annexation of Armenia to Russia, the tradition of collecting and studying manuscripts revived again. Since then, the number of manuscripts has gradually increased to 4,700 units.

The collection of Armenian manuscripts all over the world continues to this day. Every year more and more manuscripts and documents are replenishing Matenadaran collection. To date, Matenadaran Fund has approximately 23,000 of ancient Armenian manuscripts and several thousand manuscripts in Russian, Arabic, Persian and other languages. In addition to manuscripts, Matenadaran is rich in old-printed books, which also represent an artistic value because of the rich decoration up to the precious stones.

Thanks to its treasures, Matenadaran has become an important cultural and scientific center of world significance, attracting many specialists from different countries around the world who use its extensive materials for their research. Matenadaran is the national pride of Armenia, a prominent and eloquent witness of the creative thought of the Armenian people.