Categories: CultureWorld

The Armenian Library and Museum of America

The history of the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA) started in 1971 when a group of Armenians began collecting Armenian books and items in an Armenian parish church in Belmont, Massachusetts. In 1985, the decently increased collection was opened to the public for the first time. ALMA moved to its current location in 1988, occupying a four-story brick building in the very center of Watertown.

The museum collection of ALMA currently is the largest outside Armenia. It has more than 20 thousand pieces of antiquity – ancient and medieval Armenian coins, carpets, national costumes, items from the times of the Kingdom of Van, and many others.

ALMA’s Mesrob Boyadjian Library contains over 27 thousand books, periodicals, posters, documents, and maps. One of the most significant collections of the library is the collection of audio recordings with testimonies and interviews of Armenians who survived the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

ALMA is open to visitors from Thursday to Sunday and offers membership cards of varying levels (student, family, etc.).

Vigen Avetisyan

Recent Posts

Azerbaijan’s Cultural Propaganda Against Armenian Heritage: Evidence, Mechanism, and the Cost to the Peace Process

What independent observers are documenting The most systematic data on the fate of Armenian monuments…

4 days ago

Dadivank and Gandzasar: Two Armenian Monasteries, and the Manufactured Case Against Them

On September 12, 2026, a delegation of some 150 diplomats and representatives from 58 countries,…

6 days ago

The September Days: How the Armenians of Baku Were Massacred in 1918

On September 15, 1918, the oil city of Baku fell to a joint Ottoman-Azerbaijani force,…

1 week ago

From Akroinon to Afyonkarahisar: The Ruined Armenian Church and the Erasure of a 3,000-Year-Old Christian Presence

A case study in the systematic destruction of Armenian heritage in Turkey and Azerbaijan The…

2 weeks ago

Trampling Through the Centuries: How Baku-Accredited Diplomats “Toured” Gandzasar

On September 11–12, 2026, around 150 diplomats from 58 countries accredited in Baku took part…

2 weeks ago

Subartu: The Forgotten Northern Deep of Armenian History

A name from the world's oldest archives Long before Urartu, long before "Armenia" appears in…

2 weeks ago