Matenadaran, Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts
Repository and museum of Armenian manuscripts, set in a basalt building above Mashtots Avenue.
The collection descends from the manuscript library of Echmiadzin, nationalised in 1920 and moved to Yerevan in 1939. The institute was established in 1959 and named after Mesrop Mashtots, who devised the Armenian alphabet early in the fifth century. It now holds some seventeen thousand manuscripts and many thousands of fragments, together with archives in Arabic, Persian, Greek, Syriac, Latin and other languages. The collection was added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 1997.
Mark Grigoryan's building of 1959 rises in grey basalt on a terrace above Mashtots Avenue, its recessed entrance flanked by statues of Armenian scholars and fronted by a seated figure of Mashtots with his pupil Koriun. A much larger research wing designed by Arthur Meschian opened behind it in 2011, providing conservation laboratories, reading rooms and further exhibition space. The public galleries display illuminated gospels, medical and astronomical treatises, maps and early printed books.
Highlights
- Around 17,000 manuscripts, listed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register
- Illuminated gospels including works of the Cilician school
- Basalt facade with statues of Armenian scholars and Mesrop Mashtots
- Research wing of 2011 with conservation laboratories and reading rooms
![[King Thibaw Min's Throne Room - Mandalay]title QS:P1476,en:"[King Thibaw Min's Throne Room - Mandalay]"label QS:Len,"[King Thibaw Min's Throne Room - Mandalay]"](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Felice_Beato_%28British%2C_born_Italy_-_%28King_Thibaw_Min%27s_Throne_Room_-_Mandalay%29_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/500px-Felice_Beato_%28British%2C_born_Italy_-_%28King_Thibaw_Min%27s_Throne_Room_-_Mandalay%29_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
