Armenia in "The International Symposium of History and Publishing in the Languages and Countries of the Middle East"

27 September, 2011

The fourth International Symposium of History and Publishing in the Languages and Countries of the Middle East, held from 27 to 29 September 2011, launched its works September 27 in the renowned Library of Alexandrina. Seventy-five specialists from nearly 20 countries of the world, including Egypt, Armenia, the USA, France, the Netherlands, the Great Britain, Germany, Canada, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Turkey, Azerbaijan, participate in the conference. The Seminar follows three successful international seminars held in Gutenberg Museum, Mainz in 2002; Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), Paris in 2005; and the University of Leipzig, Germany in 2008. The Symposium also celebrates the 500th anniversary of Armenian book printing and the choice of the city of Yerevan in Armenia as the World Book Capital 2012 by UNESCO, by dedicating a special session on publishing in Armenia.
The opening session featured inaugural speeches by Dr. Ismail Serageldin; Director of the Library of Alexandria, H.E. Dr. Armen Melkonian; Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia in Egypt, and Dr. Geoffrey Roper; Bibliographical Consultant, Historian and Editor of Index Islamicus and of the World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts. In his welcoming speech Director of the Library of Alexandria Ismail Serageldin referred to the historical path of Armenia, Armenian-Egyptian warm and traditional ties. He specially stressed the Armenians' role in development of book printing in Egypt, simultaneously attaching importance to world-spread Armenians' outstanding contribution to their scientific-cultural life.
Ambassador Melkonyan expressed gratitude to the organizers of the scientific conference on behalf of the Ministry of Culture of Armenia for giving a central place to the Armenian theme. The first two sessions of the scientific conference were fully dedicated to the tradition and history of the Armenian book printing.
Among Armenian participants of the international symposium are Director of the Museum of Art and Literature after Yeghishe Charents, Karapet Vardanyan and Head of the Department for Preservation and Development of Armenian Fonts at the RA National Chamber of Literature, font creator Edik Ghabuzyan; researcher of the institute of old manuscripts after Mashtots-the Matenadaran, David Ghazarian as well as participants from Egyptian-Armenian community Dr. Souren Bayramian and George Simonian.
Following the opening session, participants inaugurated an exhibition for ancient Armenian books selected from the collections of two important scientific and cultural establishments – Matenadaran and Museum of Literature and Art.

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