Dr. Levon Avdoyan unveiled the large trove of Armenian treasures in the Library of Congress where he serves as Specialist of the Armenian and Georgian areas.

Entitled “To Know Wisdom and Instruction”, his fascinating talk covered 500 years of Armenian printing, and a history of the Armenian collection at the Library of Congress. Starting on April 19, 2012, an exhibition of the collection of Armenian manuscripts and printed books will be open to the public for five months, Massis Post reports.

He is also preparing an exhibition catalog which will be published in time for the opening of the exhibition. The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, and the Armenian collections have now become a major source for Armenian studies and research.

The first massive collection of Armenian works at the Library of Congress took place in the late 19th century. It continued with “dribs and drabs” until 1948, when the “Committee for the Armenian Collection” created by Arthur H. Dadian and including the legendary scholar Dr. Sirarpie der Nercessian, it grew from some 250 to 6000 items in the Armenian language collection. By 1992, when Dr. Avdoyan was appointed Armenian Specialist, the collection had grown to 7000 items. “Today,” he said, “there are estimated to be from 40,000 to 45,000 Armenian works.”