Slovenian President Danilo Turk and his spouse Barbara Miklic Turk, accompanied by Armenian Foreign Minister Eddward Nalbandian, visited Matenadaran Institute of Ancient Manuscripts as part of an official visit to Armenia.

The guests familiarized themselves with Armenian manuscripts of 5th-19th centuries, as well as Matenadaran main exposition.

Danilo Turk left a message in Matenadaran journal, which specifically reads: “I am profoundly impressed by the cultural wealth of the manuscripts and paints, by the greatness of civilization, which gave rise to this immense intellectual production. The richness of science and intellectuality must have had also committed people willing invest huge fortune into the intellectual uplifting, what a great message for the modern and postmodern world.”

Director of Matenadaran Institute of Ancient Manuscripts Hrachya Tamrazyan granted an album of Armenian miniature in English, as well as a model of manuscripts to the Slovenian President.

In his turn, Danilo Turk presented the institute with a copy of the first Gospel printed in Slovenia.

17,000 manuscripts are kept in Matenadaran, including 14,000 in Armenian and the rest – in Aramaic, Farsi, Arabic, Greek, Latin, Assyrian and Chinese languages.