Information from the Gutenberg-Museum, Mainz:

Exhibition “Schriftkunst und Bilderzauber” [“Typographic Art and Enchanting Illustrations“]: 500 years of Armenian letterpress printing.

On Friday, 7 December 2012 at 18:30, the Gutenberg-Museum will inaugurate the special exhibition “Schriftkunst und Bilderzauber” [Typographic Art and Enchanting Illustrations] on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Armenian letterpress printing. Tigran Sargsyan, Prime Minister of Armenia and Kurt Beck, Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate will attend the exhibition opening.

In 1512, the first Armenian book was printed. The Gutenberg-Museum is using the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Armenian letterpress printing to provide an insight into the history of Armenian printing. It will present several highlights of the Armenian art of printing, which have not been shown in Germany before. 

The exhibition in Mainz is based on an exhibition of the same title which was shown at the Kunstforum Halle (April/May 2012). However, the exhibition in Mainz has its own foci and will present further milestones of the Armenian history of printing. 

The history of Armenian letterpress printing began in the print shop of the Armenian Hakob Meghapart in Venice in the year 1512. So the Armenians were the first people of the (Greater) Middle East, after the Ottoman Jews, to take advantage of Gutenberg’s ground-breaking invention by integrating it into their culture. Since the late 17th century, Venice has been a stronghold of the Armenian printing industry. The Gutenberg-Museum will present two treasures of the great many works which were printed there. One of them is the first printed book in the Armenian language, the so-called “Urbatagirk“ (“Book of Friday“), which was loaned out by the National Library of the Republic of Armenia on the occasion of the exhibition. Only some time later, the “Parzaytowmar“ (“simplified calendar of the Armenians“) appeared, the second book printed in the Armenian language. This also will be exhibited.

Two other important centres of early Armenian printing are Istanbul and Amsterdam. The printing of Armenian works began in Istanbul in 1567. Among several other works which originated there, a liturgical book (Synaxarion) of 1730 will be on display, with a frontispiece showing a wonderful Madonna on a crescent moon. This work is considered one of the most beautiful Armenian books. 

Another highlight of the exhibition is the first printed Armenian Bible (Amsterdam 1666) which was loaned out by the National Library of the Republic of Armenia and is shown here in Germany for the first time.

There will be a selection of Armenian imprints from different parts of the world: it was not until 1772 that a print shop could be established at Echmiatzin in Armenia. In addition to that, Armenian manuscripts of the 13th to the 17th centuries, which are famous for their beauty, will demonstrate that there is a continuity between the elaborate Armenian tradition of manuscripts and book printing. They show a style which has been largely affected by a mutual penetration of Christian influences and those of the (Greater) Middle East. The facsimile edition of the world-famous “Codex Echmiatzin” of the 10th century will be presented as a “hands-on” exhibit.

As a last point, the exhibition will take a look at the scientific examination of Armenia in Germany since its first recorded descriptions of the 15th century. So, for instance, the travel report by the Mainz canon Bernhard von Breydenbach “Peregrinatio in terram sanctam“ (1486) contains the first Armenian alphabet printed from a woodblock.

The exhibition at the Gutenberg-Museum was established in collaboration with the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz [State Library of Berlin – Prussian Cultural Heritage] and MESROP Arbeitsstelle für Armenische Studien an der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg [MESROP Department of Armenian Studies at Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg]. Meliné Pehlivanian, deputy director of the Oriental Department of the State Library of Berlin – Prussian Cultural Heritage and expert in the field of early Armenian printing, and Prof. Dr. Armenuhi Drost-Abgarjan, professor of Armenology at the seminar of Eastern Christianity and Byzantium / Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, helped as external curators to create this exhibition.

Most of the items on loan came from the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz. The exhibition was provided with further important loan exhibits by the following institutions: Bibliothek der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft an der Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt [Library of the German Oriental Society at the University and Regional Library of Saxony-Anhalt], National Library of the Republic of Armenia, Institute of Manuscripts Maštoc’-Matenadaran in Yerevan, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek [Bavarian State Library] in Munich, and Stiftung der Saalesparkasse, Halle [Foundation Saale Savings Bank in Halle].

The exhibition is generously supported by the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the Förderverein Gutenberg e.V. [Gutenberg Sponsorship Association].
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Dr Geoffrey Roper
Bibliographical & Editorial Consultant
   (Middle Eastern & Muslim areas & languages)
Leith, St Mark's Hill, Surbiton
London, KT6 4LW,  Great Britain

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