Categories: PeopleWorld

The Gulbenkian Library in Jerusalem

The Armenian quarter in the Old City was formed in the 12th century when the Cathedral of Surb Hakobyants was built.

Later, the Surb Toros Church was erected as well, in which handwritten books of the Jerusalem Patriarchate of the Armenian Apostolic Church began to be collected.

For a long time, Patriarch Yegishe Turyan had the idea of a large library. It became a reality thanks to the participation of the famous philanthropist Galust Gulbenkian who dedicated the project to the memory of his parents.

In 1929, the foundation of the future building was laid, and in 1932, the library was finally opened. Currently, there are more than 4,000 manuscripts kept there, the oldest ones of which date to the 11th century.

Vigen Avetisyan

Recent Posts

Before the Sistrum: Tracing a Bronze Age Rattle from Anatolia to Ararat

How a humble noise-making instrument may connect Hattian metalworkers, Hurrian myth-singers, Egyptian priestesses of Isis,…

22 hours ago

The Turkish Pipeline: How Syrian Fighters Were Recruited, Moved and Deployed Against Armenian Forces in the 2020 Artsakh War

Image Source: 301.am For years, Ankara and Baku publicly denied that Syrian fighters had any…

4 days ago

Tork Angegh: Storm, Stone, and the Oldest Face of the Armenian Pantheon

Long before Armenia's kings raised churches over pagan sanctuaries, before Hellenism folded Vahagn into Herakles…

1 week ago

The Goat on the Armenian Highland: A Symbol Older Than Writing

Introduction Long before Urartian kings inscribed their names in cuneiform on the cliffs of Van,…

2 weeks ago

“Summon Against Her the Kingdoms of Ararat”: Urartu-Armenia in the Prophecy Against Babylon

A Coalition Beneath the Mountain Among the oracles of judgment collected in the Book of…

2 weeks ago

The Tower That Never Left Us: From the Susi Shrine of Ancient Van to the Obelisk Above the Yerevan Cascade

If you have ever climbed the Cascade in Yerevan and looked up at the tall,…

2 weeks ago