From Indira Gandhi to Belgian royals, Yerevan’s treasure Matenadaran boasts A-List visitors
The number of visitors to the Mesrop Mashtots Matenadaran Institute of Ancient Manuscripts in Yerevan is growing every year, according to Director of the repository Vahan Ter-Ghevondyan.
Ter-Ghevondyan told ARMENPRESS that 112,000 people visited the museum in 2018 – 4,000 more than in 2017. According to him the geography of the visits is also growing.
“And in our branch in Artsakh we’ve had more than 15,000 visitors in 2018. We are satisfied with the results in terms of visits. Visits from China, Korea and the Philippines have increased. In the past we didn’t have, or had very few visitors from these countries. Germans and Italians are active, Russia has a big place among visitors. They come both in groups and individually. A rather great number of visits took place during the La Francophonie days. We organized the Armenia-France Relations of Centuries exhibition, a booklet dedicated to it, and an illustration book dedicated to miniature painting was published,” he said.
Matenadaran has guides fluent in different foreign languages – Russian, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. And occasionally experts fluent in Iranian, Arabic, Polish and Hungarian are also involved.
During the years, many high-ranking visiting officials have been in Matenadaran during their stay in Armenia. 2018 was an active year in this regard.
Curator Aida Charkhchyan says the high-level visitors included Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand, Italian President Sergio Mattarella, President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, King of Belgium Philippe and his family and others.
“The visit of the Belgian royal family was unexpected,” the curator says. “Usually we are notified in advance on visiting delegations, but in this case they came all of a sudden. Since the visit was a private one, we found out only a few minutes before they arrived. I have to say that they were very impressed,” the Matenadaran curator said.
During the October 2018 La Francophonie Summit in Yerevan, Matenadaran was also a top-choice for official delegations. Many first ladies of visiting heads of state visited the museum. Delegations visited the institute during the Eurasian Week Forum also.
“In case of official visits we prepare in advance, we clarify the specify the required language for the guide, and timing, i.e. how long they will stay. In terms of the exhibition, we don’t make changes there. We present the exhibits that are on display at the moment,” Charkhchyan said.
After visiting Matenadaran, visitors sign a guest book upon leaving, and the curator says that during the several decades that she is working at the institute everyone is leaving it full of admiration.
High ranking visits to Matenadaran include – Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi in 1976, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1970, Charles, Prince of Wales in 2013 and others.
