President takes part in opening of exhibition “Survived Manuscripts” and presentation of movie “Kemalist Massacres” at Matenadaran

Today, at the Matenadaran - Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts - President Serzh Sargsyan and His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, took part in the opening of the exhibition “Survived Manuscripts” and the presentation of the movie “Kemalist Massacres” which were devoted to the Armenian Genocide Centennial.

During the opening ceremony, the Armenian President donated a manuscript to the Matenadaran. It is a 17th century valuable and illustrated gospel book with miniatures of the Evangelists, decorations and marginal ornaments. It is called the Red Gospel. It contains remarkable colophons which make clear that the owner of the manuscript, reader Sahak, donated it to Saint Hovhannes Church in Kars in 1752. In the 19th century the manuscript changed owners several times and was found in the village of Chala in Javakhk, in the hands of Baghdasar Shahbasov, who had previously saved it from a blockade of Turkish bandits, by taking it out and moving it to another place.

In his remarks to the Catholicos of All Armenians and godfathers of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin who were present at the opening of the exhibition “Survived Manuscripts,” as well as to the Director of the Matenadaran and the entire Matenadaran staff, Serzh Sargsyan firstly expressed his thanks for the extensive work carried out at this Armenological center, stressing that since its establishment, the institution has never, not even for a second, stopped its activities, operating even under the most difficult circumstances. “I am very glad and grateful, that you, having already been provided with the best conditions for the development of Matenadaran, have never rested content with what has been achieved, have never weakened, but rather have settled down to work with fresh energy and vigor. This place embraces a part of our people’s centuries-old treasures, and it is crucial to conduct a comprehensive study of those jewels and provide concise information about them,” said the President.

Talking about the goal of the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th century, the Armenian President noted that it was very clear: to erase the name of Armenia from our historical motherland on account of political motives. “It was first of all people, but it was also the culture represented by those people.” According to the President, the people pursuing that goal were not able to realize their plan for a very simple reason; very many of our ancestors much preferred to rescue our cultural values, rather than their own property, necessaries of life and the wealth created by them and their forefathers across centuries. “In this regards, I would also like to express my gratitude and worship towards George V, Catholicos of All Armenians, and towards all the churchmen who made colossal efforts and great sacrifices to save at least a small part of those jewels. This is the formula of our eternity, and this is the reason that loosing and becoming exhausted many times, we, nevertheless, have managed to pass through the crossroads of history and reach the 21st century.

I could not have shown up to this exhibition empty-handed and I have brought with me a 17th-century manuscript called “The Red Gospel.” It took much effort to save and take it out from Ghars in 1918. That Gospel book was kept in Saint Hovhannes Church in Ghars for 170 years, and now I am glad to hand this relic to the Matenadaran. It is true, Mr. Tamrazyan, that this manuscript did not return to its original home, but it returned to its safest house and safest haven,” said President Serzh Sargsyan.

Additional information

The exhibition “Survived Manuscripts” opened at the Matenadaran after Mesrop Mashtots displays exceptional manuscripts and archival documents. Special emphasis has been laid on the activities of All Armenian Catholicos George V and of the emissary groups sent by him to Western Armenia to save the manuscripts.
The exhibition pays special attention to the life and deeds of Hovhannes Hyusyan, an abbot at the Hermitage of Lim, whose efforts helped to save more than 1400 manuscripts and 12000 people from Western Armenia.

The exhibition embraces collections of manuscripts from Vaspurakan, Mush, Karin and other Armenian settlements, rare archival documents, e.g. decrees to confiscate the properties abandoned by Armenians, photos displaying Etchmiadzin’s orphanage and Hovhannes Tumanyan’s activities, ledgers of the Armenian primacy in Adana, photos of the Battle of Aintab etc.

The main exhibition has also been replenished with manuscripts saved from the genocide. All the exhibitions are science-based and are interconnected. The exhibitions are held at six exhibitions halls.

The documentary film “Kemalist Massacres,” presented by the Matenadaran and Shoghakat TV at the Matenadaran after Mesrop Mashtots, covers the historical period between 1919 and 1923 during which Turkish authorities annihilated, in Western Armenia and Cilicia, the refugees who had escaped from the Armenian Mets Eghern and had returned again to the motherland – their homes – from Syrian deserts. The screenplay is written by Anahit Astoyan, a researcher at the Matenadaran after Mesrop Mashtots and the director is Ara Shirinyan. The film was produced at Shoghakat TV.