Iluminated Manuscripts

The Matenaderan is Yerevan's ancient manuscripts museum and home to the largest collection of Armenian manuscripts. Unfortunately, picture taking is prohibited, though I was temped to sneak a few shots of the intricate gold illuminated manuscripts, the guard lurking around made me think twice.



The museum holds a fully preserved 7th century Our Lady Gospel. The museum is also running an exhibition on manuscripts from Cilicia, a Mediterranean town in modern day Turkey that used to be an Armenian kingdom in the 11th century.



Outside the museum are six statues. The three shown in the photo above capture Anania Shirakatsi a 7th century mathematician who helped establish the Armenian calendar, Mkhitar Gosh responsible for establishing Armenia's first laws, and Frik, a 13th century Armenian poet. I had never heard of Frik. Here is an excerpt from one of his poems:

Plant me in the good earth, so I will firmly hold
Southern winds of spring blow, so that I will flower
Prune me and dig weeds out, that I wake and be spright
Dew of life, pour on boughs of my heart, to soften.
Irrigate me gush, so that I green and bud

for more on Frik refer to google books: The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the sixth to the eighteenth century, p. 524.