In the center of Yerevan, at the very end of the avenue named after the great Mashtots, the creator of the Armenian alphabet, there is a monumental building made of gray basalt. This is the MATENADARAN-the State repository of ancient manuscripts.
The building was erected in 1957, as evidenced by four Armenian copper letters on the floor at the entrance. It is built in the spirit of the traditions of national architecture of the XII-XIII centuries.A monument to Mesrop Mashtots, the creator of the Armenian script, has been erected in front of the building. On both sides of the main entrance there are six more sculptures, including the sculpture of the ancestor of historiography Movses Khorenatsi and the outstanding scientist Ananii Shirakatsi.
The words are carved on the wall: "To learn wisdom and instructions, to understand the sayings of reason..." These were the first words written on parchment in newly created Armenian letters. Recently, on the right, a new large building was built in the same style, where the Matenadaran library is located.
The interiors of the Matenadaran are enriched with sculptures, ceramics, frescoes, mosaics.All this creates an impression of solemnity and simplicity.
More than 16 thousand manuscripts are preserved and studied in the funds of the Matenadaran. This collection is constantly updated with new finds, acquisitions and gifts flowing from all over the world. Most of the manuscripts are bound in embossed leather, some are enclosed in silver frames. The parchments of the manuscripts are richly decorated with a miniature, which in itself represents a work of art.
On the ground floor there is a repository of manuscripts. There are also laboratories designed for working on manuscripts - their study, restoration, photographing, etc.
The upper floors are occupied by researchers ' offices, a reading room and an exhibition hall.
The pearl of the Matenadaran is the works of Armenian historians, mathematicians, astronomers, geographers, doctors. Here is the famous sudebnik of Mkhitar Gosha and the poems of famous medieval poets. The best samples of manuscripts are displayed in the exhibition hall.
The first Armenian book "Parzatumar" (calendar), published in 1512, and the first Armenian magazine Azdarar (Bulletin),published in Madras in 1794, are also in Matenadaran.
The largest Armenian handwritten book weighing 34 kg, which took 700 calf skins to create, and a baby manuscript weighing 12 grams are stored in the Matenadaran. Among the manuscripts of the Matenadaran there are monuments of Greek, Syriac and other scripts.The originals of some have been lost, but they have been preserved in the Armenian translation.
Along with Armenian manuscripts, about a thousand handwritten monuments in Persian, Greek, Latin, Russian and other languages are stored in the Matenadaran.
Previously, all these manuscripts were kept at the Etchmiadzin Monastery and only in 1939 they were transported to Yerevan. Among the former monastery relics are the Lazarev Gospel on parchment (887) and on paper (891goda). There are also many historical works here: "The Life of Mashtots" - the biography of the creator of the Armenian alphabet, made in the 40s of the V century by his student Koryun, " The history of Armenia from ancient times to the fall of the Arsacids in 428, written by Movses Khorenatsi, and many other works of ancient scholars. There were also the most ancient miniatures of the VI-VII centuries and the "Etchmiadzin Gospel" of 383 with the rarest examples of book painting.
The scientific and cognitive significance of the Matenadaran is undeniable. Valuable manuscripts are not only displayed here. All this vast wealth of spiritual culture, created over many centuries, is studied, translated and published by the staff of the Matenadaran.
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