17th century manuscript added to treasury of Echmiadzin


Category: Echmiadzin

Church calendarUnique manuscript published in the first quarter of the 17th century filled up the collection of the Holy Echmiadzin, reports the Armenia News.

Church calendar, the work of the priest Oganes, dates back to the 1625. It is considered one of the best samples of the Caesarea School. In 1656 silver master Shakhmir Karapet had done an exquisite double carved cover for the book.

The front page of the manuscript depicts the baptism scene by the first Armenian Patriarch Gregory the Illuminator of the royal family as well as the Holy Echmiadzin Cathedral, Mount Ararat and Noah’s Ark. On the second page, you can see St. Mesrop Mashtots, the creator of Armenian writing, catholicos Saak Pertev who was spreading the written language along with Mashtots and catholicos Nerses Shnorali, a distinguished figure of the 12th century.

It is known today of 21 works of the Caesarea school that are kept in the museum collections of USA, UK, Venice, the Matenadaran, the Institute of Ancient Manuscripts in Yerevan. Until now, one of the oldest copies of the calendar was considered the one dating back to 1699, also presented in the Echmiadzin museum.