The 350th anniversary of the First Armenian Bible printed by Voskan Yerevantsi has been included in the list of important cultural events of the UNESCO for 2016, - reports the website of the MFA Armenia. The decision was made at the 28th session of the UNESCO General Conference held in Paris on November 4-18, 2015. Armenian request on including the anniversary of the Bible into the UNESCO Calendar was supported by France and the Netherlands.
The first printed Bible in Armenian language was published in 1666 in Amsterdam, in the printing house of the Armenian Apostle Church by the Archimandrite Voskan Yerevantsi. There were in total a huge number for that time of 5000 copies printed. Two copies of the Bible were printed in special layout: hand-made cover and beautiful image of the Blessed Virgin with Jesus Christ in hands on the spine of the book. These Bibles were gifted to the French King Louis XIV and the Pope Clement IX.
Apart from that, Armenia together with Russia had requested to include the 200th anniversary of the famous artist Ivan Ayvazovsky (Ovannes Ayvazyan) to the UNESCO Calendar of important events for 2017. The request was supported by Italy and approved by the UNESCO.
As of 1998, there are 21 Armenian cultural events on the UNESCO Calendar.
