The BNE shows the “treasures” of Armenian manuscript art in the exhibition ‘On the paths of the map of spirituality’

The National Library of Spain organizes, together with the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia, the Matenadaran Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts and the Friends of the BNE Foundation (FABNE), the exhibition ‘On the paths of the map of spirituality: Armenian manuscript art’.

The exhibition can be visited until June 21 and includes some of the most important artistic and bibliographic treasures preserved in the Matenadaran, one of the most important research and conservation centers internationally, which houses the largest collection of Armenian manuscripts in the world.

Some of these “treasures” have never left Armenia and reveal the millennia-old tradition of Armenian manuscript art. Through them and the texts that accompany them, the visitor will be able to discover various aspects of Armenian culture and the richness of its heritage: its history, its beliefs, its traditions, the settlements of the diaspora or the creation and illumination of the manuscript codices in its scriptoria.

Armenia treasures a valuable heritage shaped by its own language and spirituality, which this exhibition invites you to explore and understand. Armenian manuscripts are internationally recognized for their miniature paintings, a central feature of Armenian manuscript culture, which evolved through various regional schools and multiple centers of learning and artistic activity, reflecting the vast geography of Armenian written heritage.

The exhibition shows eleven manuscript codices from the 9th to the 18th century, among them one of the most unique examples of the Matenadaran manuscript collection: the only 18th century manuscript translated from Spanish into Armenian. Made in Manila (Philippines), where Armenian merchants played a prominent role, it is an exceptional work, a unique testimony of the commitment of the Armenian community in the Philippines to the cultural and spiritual life of the time.

You can also see books with majestic bindings made of different materials, a palimpsest and three rolls of amulets, considered one of the most unique manifestations of Armenian writing art, an example of the popular religiosity of medieval culture.

Through these works, the visitor will be able to glimpse the richness of Armenian miniaturesrepresented by the schools of Cilicia, Vaspurakan, New Julfa, Crimea and other centers, with the artistic quality of important illuminators such as Toros Roslin, famous Armenian miniaturist and scribe of the 13th century, Hakob Jughayetsi or Markos the painter.