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Matenadaran
The Matenadaran (Armenian: Մատենադարան), officially the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, is the largest center for the storage, study and popularization of Armenian manuscripts, combining the functions of a museum, archive and scientific institution. It is holds the most extensive collection of Armenian manuscripts in existence.
It was established in 1959 on the basis of the nationalized collection of the Armenian Church, formerly held at Etchmiadzin. Its collection has gradually expanded since its establishment, mostly from individual donations. One of the most prominent landmarks of Yerevan, it is named after Mesrop Mashtots, the inventor of the Armenian alphabet, whose statue stands in front of the building. Its collection is included in the register of the UNESCO Memory of the World program.
The word matenadaran is a compound composed of matean, ("book" or "parchment") and daran ("repository"). Both words are of Middle Persian origin. Though it is sometimes translated as "scriptorium" in English, a more accurate translation is "repository or library of manuscripts." In medieval Armenia, the term matenadaran was used in the sense of a library as all books were handwritten.
Some Armenian manuscript repositories around the world are still known as matenadaran, such as the ones at the Mekhitarist monastery in San Lazzaro, Venice and the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Manuscript Depository at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. To distinguish it from others, it is often referred to as the Matenadaran of Yerevan, the Yerevan Matenadaran, or the Mashtots Matenadaran (Մաշտոցյան Մատենադարան).
The earliest mention of a manuscript repository in Armenia was recorded in the writings of the fifth century historian Ghazar Parpetsi, who noted the existence of such a repository at the Etchmiadzin Catholicosate in Vagharshapat, the center of the Armenian Apostolic Church, where Greek and Armenian language texts were kept. Manuscript repositories existed at major monasteries in medieval Armenia, such as at Haghpat, Sanahin, Saghmosavank, Tatev, Geghard, Kecharis, Hromkla, and Bardzraberd. In some cases, monastic complexes have separate structures as manuscript repositories. Sometimes manuscripts would be transferred to caves to avoid destruction by foreign invaders. Thousands of manuscripts in Armenia were destroyed over the course of the tenth to fifteenth centuries during the Turkic and Mongol invasions. According to the medieval Armenian historian Stepanos Orbelian, the Seljuk Turks were responsible for the burning of over 10,000 Armenian manuscripts in Baghaberd in 1170.
The Matenadaran collection has its roots in the Etchmiadzin collection set up in 1441, when the Catholicosate returned from Sis in Cilicia. The Matenadaran at Etchmiadzin was pillaged several times, the last of which took place in 1804, during the Russo-Persian War. Eastern Armenia's annexation by the Russian Empire in the early 19th century provided a more stable climate for the preservation of the remaining manuscripts. Whereas in 1828 the curators of the Matenadaran catalogued a collection of only 1,809 manuscripts, in 1863 the collection had increased to 2,340 manuscripts, and in 1892 to 3,158 manuscripts. Prior to World War I, in 1913, the collection had reached 4,660 manuscripts. In 1915, the collection was sent to Moscow for safekeeping since Etchmiadzin was close to the war zone.
Thousands of Armenian manuscripts were destroyed during the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, but around 1,600 were saved from Vaspurakan (Lim, Ktuts, Varag), Taron (Surb Karapet Monastery), Erzurum (Sanasarian College), and elsewhere.
On December 17, 1920, just two weeks after the demise of the First Republic of Armenia and Sovietization of Armenia, the new Bolshevik government of Armenia issued a decree nationalizing all cultural and educational institutions in Armenia. The decree, signed by Minister of Education Ashot Hovhannisyan, declared the manuscript repository of Etchmiadzin the "property of the working peoples of Armenia." It was put under the supervision of Levon Lisitsian, an art historian and the newly appointed commissar of all cultural and educational institutions of Etchmiadzin. On February 5, 1921 it became the basis of the newly-founded Etchmiadzin Cultural-Historical Institute (later renmated the Etchmiadzin Scientific Institute), Armenia's first research institute. In March 1922 the manuscripts from Etchmiadzin that had been sent to Moscow during World War I were ordered to be returned to Armenia by Alexander Miasnikian. 1,730 manuscripts were added to the original 4,660 manuscripts held at Etchmiadzin once they returned to Armenia.
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Matenadaran
The Matenadaran (Armenian: Մատենադարան), officially the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, is the largest center for the storage, study and popularization of Armenian manuscripts, combining the functions of a museum, archive and scientific institution. It is holds the most extensive collection of Armenian manuscripts in existence.
It was established in 1959 on the basis of the nationalized collection of the Armenian Church, formerly held at Etchmiadzin. Its collection has gradually expanded since its establishment, mostly from individual donations. One of the most prominent landmarks of Yerevan, it is named after Mesrop Mashtots, the inventor of the Armenian alphabet, whose statue stands in front of the building. Its collection is included in the register of the UNESCO Memory of the World program.
The word matenadaran is a compound composed of matean, ("book" or "parchment") and daran ("repository"). Both words are of Middle Persian origin. Though it is sometimes translated as "scriptorium" in English, a more accurate translation is "repository or library of manuscripts." In medieval Armenia, the term matenadaran was used in the sense of a library as all books were handwritten.
Some Armenian manuscript repositories around the world are still known as matenadaran, such as the ones at the Mekhitarist monastery in San Lazzaro, Venice and the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Manuscript Depository at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. To distinguish it from others, it is often referred to as the Matenadaran of Yerevan, the Yerevan Matenadaran, or the Mashtots Matenadaran (Մաշտոցյան Մատենադարան).
The earliest mention of a manuscript repository in Armenia was recorded in the writings of the fifth century historian Ghazar Parpetsi, who noted the existence of such a repository at the Etchmiadzin Catholicosate in Vagharshapat, the center of the Armenian Apostolic Church, where Greek and Armenian language texts were kept. Manuscript repositories existed at major monasteries in medieval Armenia, such as at Haghpat, Sanahin, Saghmosavank, Tatev, Geghard, Kecharis, Hromkla, and Bardzraberd. In some cases, monastic complexes have separate structures as manuscript repositories. Sometimes manuscripts would be transferred to caves to avoid destruction by foreign invaders. Thousands of manuscripts in Armenia were destroyed over the course of the tenth to fifteenth centuries during the Turkic and Mongol invasions. According to the medieval Armenian historian Stepanos Orbelian, the Seljuk Turks were responsible for the burning of over 10,000 Armenian manuscripts in Baghaberd in 1170.
The Matenadaran collection has its roots in the Etchmiadzin collection set up in 1441, when the Catholicosate returned from Sis in Cilicia. The Matenadaran at Etchmiadzin was pillaged several times, the last of which took place in 1804, during the Russo-Persian War. Eastern Armenia's annexation by the Russian Empire in the early 19th century provided a more stable climate for the preservation of the remaining manuscripts. Whereas in 1828 the curators of the Matenadaran catalogued a collection of only 1,809 manuscripts, in 1863 the collection had increased to 2,340 manuscripts, and in 1892 to 3,158 manuscripts. Prior to World War I, in 1913, the collection had reached 4,660 manuscripts. In 1915, the collection was sent to Moscow for safekeeping since Etchmiadzin was close to the war zone.
Thousands of Armenian manuscripts were destroyed during the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, but around 1,600 were saved from Vaspurakan (Lim, Ktuts, Varag), Taron (Surb Karapet Monastery), Erzurum (Sanasarian College), and elsewhere.
On December 17, 1920, just two weeks after the demise of the First Republic of Armenia and Sovietization of Armenia, the new Bolshevik government of Armenia issued a decree nationalizing all cultural and educational institutions in Armenia. The decree, signed by Minister of Education Ashot Hovhannisyan, declared the manuscript repository of Etchmiadzin the "property of the working peoples of Armenia." It was put under the supervision of Levon Lisitsian, an art historian and the newly appointed commissar of all cultural and educational institutions of Etchmiadzin. On February 5, 1921 it became the basis of the newly-founded Etchmiadzin Cultural-Historical Institute (later renmated the Etchmiadzin Scientific Institute), Armenia's first research institute. In March 1922 the manuscripts from Etchmiadzin that had been sent to Moscow during World War I were ordered to be returned to Armenia by Alexander Miasnikian. 1,730 manuscripts were added to the original 4,660 manuscripts held at Etchmiadzin once they returned to Armenia.