Keron Development Foundation Donates a Rare 17th-Century Manuscript Collection to the Matenadaran

The Keron Development Foundation has donated a rare manuscript collection dating to approximately 1672–1676 to the Mesrop Mashtots Matenadaran, contributing to the preservation, study, and promotion of Armenia’s manuscript heritage.

The official donation ceremony took place on 22 July during the opening of the exhibition “The Eternity of One Year: Matenadaran’s Manuscript Acquisitions,” held as part of the 3rd International Congress of Armenian Studies at the Matenadaran.

Organized with the support of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia, the Congress is being held from 22 to 24 July 2026 and is dedicated to the 350th anniversary of Mekhitar Sebastatsi. It brings together leading scholars and specialists from universities and research institutions across 16 countries.

The Congress aims to highlight contemporary developments in Armenian Studies, strengthen awareness within the international scholarly community, promote academic collaboration, and align Armenia’s national policy in Armenian Studies with international research priorities.

As part of the Congress, the Matenadaran Museum opened the exhibition “The Eternity of One Year: Matenadaran’s Manuscript Acquisitions,” showcasing the valuable manuscripts and donations that have enriched the Matenadaran’s collections over the past year.

During the opening ceremony, the Keron Development Foundation formally presented a manuscript compilation containing several medical, religious, and historical texts created in different periods. The collection dates to approximately 1672–1676 and also includes additions made during the 19th century.

The manuscript’s history is closely connected to the Hrant Samuelian Oriental Bookstore in Paris. Founded in 1930, the bookstore served for nearly nine decades not only as a bookseller but also as an important center of Armenian intellectual life, historical memory, and culture. It preserved rare printed books, manuscripts, and exceptional materials reflecting the spiritual, scholarly, and cultural heritage of the Armenian people.

Following the bookstore’s closure in 2016, its collection was offered at auction on 11 June 2025. Wilco Capital Management, an Armenia-based investment company, successfully acquired 13 printed books and five rare manuscripts dating from the 17th to 19th centuries from the Samuelian collection.

Among the acquired works are 1733 Venetian editions of the Bible, the 1782 and 1829 editions of Gregory of Narek’s Book of Lamentations, Mashtots liturgical books, religious and historical compilations, as well as rare medical manuscripts (hekimarans)—important primary sources for the study of traditional Armenian medicine.

Wilco donated the entire collection to the Keron Development Foundation, entrusting it with the responsibility of preserving, studying, and promoting these invaluable cultural treasures.

“We accepted this extraordinary collection with a profound sense of responsibility. For us, it is essential that cultural treasures of this significance are not only carefully preserved but also made accessible to scholars, researchers, and future generations. With this conviction, we are donating this manuscript collection to the Matenadaran, confident that it will find its rightful place in one of the world’s foremost institutions dedicated to the preservation and study of Armenian manuscript heritage. We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to Wilco for entrusting us with this important mission,” said Vanane Ararktsyan, Executive Director of the Keron Development Foundation, during the official ceremony.

The transfer of the manuscript to the Matenadaran will ensure its preservation under professional conservation standards, enable the necessary restoration and scholarly research, and make it accessible to specialists in Armenian Studies, manuscript scholars, and the wider public interested in Armenia’s cultural heritage.