Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenia, visited an exhibition on Armenia at the metropolitan museum of Art in New York.
The exhibition presents the historical and cultural heritage of the Armenian people: starting with the adoption of Christianity (4th century ) and the invention of the Armenian alphabet (5th century) to the 17th century. The exhibition will open on September 21, 2018, marking Armenia’s Independence Day.
Through some 140 objects—including opulent gilded reliquaries, richly illuminated manuscripts, rare textiles, cross stones (khachkars), precious liturgical furnishings, church models, and printed books—the exhibition demonstrates how Armenians developed a unique Christian identity that linked their widespread communities over the years.
Representing the cultural heritage of Armenia, most of the works come from major Armenian collections: the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin; the Matenadaran (Ancient Manuscripts); the National History Museum in the Republic of Armenia; the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia in Lebanon; the Brotherhood of St. James in Jerusalem; and the Mekhitarist Congregation of San Lazzaro degli Armeni in Venice.
Almost all of these works are on view in the United States for the first time; some have not traveled abroad for centuries.
