Exhibition of ancient Armenian books was opened in the national library of Georgia’s parliament dedicated to the 500th anniversary of Armenian book-printing.

The event was organized by Tbilisi’s Hayatun cultural center jointly with the Georgian parliament’s national library, with support of the Armenian Culture and Diaspora ministries, Galust Gyulbenkyan Foundation and Armenian embassy in Georgia.

Armenian ambassador in Georgia Hovhannes Manukyan and head of Georgia's Armenian diocese Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan attended the event.

The exhibition featured over 50 Armenian books, most ancient ones dating back to 1675.

Director of Tbilisi’s National library Giorgi Kekelidze said they have to contribute to the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Armenian book-printing, since Tbilisi once hosted 47 Armenian publishing houses which printed tens of thousands of Armenian books, newspapers and magazines, now part of Georgia’s national library.

Speaking at the event, Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan highly assessed the invaluable role of the book in developing the human mind saying that for centuries, Georgia has been a center for Armenian culture development.

The country’s library archive now has over 50000 Armenian books and documents, about 1000 of which are ancient clerical books, the clergyman concluded.