Last week, the unexpected happened. The verbal conversations about the Matenadaran really came true. The institute of manuscripts was always beyond doubt. Public opinion has always considered it as a national pride and a citadel of armenology. For two years, directors of research institutes have been sent, one by one, to retirement. Many people thought that this decision of the government would not relate to the future status of the Matenadaran. Both in a professional level and in public opinion the image of Sen Arevshatyan was as mysterious as the manuscripts of the institute he was directing. And then suddenly, for two or three months, issues regarding the Matenadaran have turned into a public discussion. Everything started with the story of digitization. A group of serious scientists started to present the contract with the American institute as an ordinary deal. Only after the contract was publicized in the newspapers did this issue become objective and worth being concerned about. In the legal meaning, the contract was really improper and incomplete. The scandalous story has become very popular during a very short period of time. Academician Sen Arevshatyan resigned. Later he was elected director of the management board of the Matenadaran. The process of electing an executive director was followed by incredible stories. First, for a long time, the media and the scientists were saying that the contract, or memorandum, with the Hill Museum was not cancelled. Later they started to say that three manuscripts were given to the Hill and exported from Armenia. The official retraction was groundless and the website of the Hill Museum provided information about it. This last information was tensely spoken about both in Armenia and the Diaspora. The Matenadaran, for the Armenian person, is more than just an institute of manuscripts. During the energy crisis of the 1990s, people were sure that the manuscripts were being kept in the right temperature. The scientists who were speaking abut the unfavorable conditions in the National Gallery and the History museum were proud to say that the manuscripts were kept in normal conditions. And there are the legends about how careful we Armenians are with our manuscripts. In 1915, mothers were trying to save the manuscripts instead of their children. In the 1990s, our children were freezing in their apartments. But we had the necessary temperature in Matenadaran. Maybe these legends are worthy of each other. Even the most illiterate Armenian loves and is proud of the Matenadaran. And it turns out that manuscripts are “removed”, just like from regular museums. The noise about mugging the national museums of Russia hasn’t yet been settled. The specialists there are speaking about investing new technologies for the security of the museum. No one is interested in such things in our country. We have been speaking about the robbery of certain items from the National Gallery, National Library, Matenadaran, and other institutes for years. But these are just words. Nothing is verified and no inventory is conducted. And this is the result. The Diaspora benefactors of the Matenadaran are claiming back the manuscripts they bought and then dedicated years ago to the Matenadaran. This information is disseminated by Public TV. It is Haylur that informed us that the benefactors refused to give 135 thousand Euros to the Matenadaran because of the negative rumors they hear about this institute. This money was supposed to be used to buy a manuscript that is being sold in Europe. Thus, the negative information about the Institute has been disseminated only now, but in fact negative things have been happening for a long time. It was probably the dream of many people to occupy the position of the executive director and the director of the board of the Matenadaran. As a result, the society got completely updated about the actual situation of the Matenadaran. It turned out that here the shady process also exists, just like in all the sectors of Armenia – educational, scientific, etc. Now the Matenadaran has an executive director. Hrachya Tamrazyan, who has a very good reputation and good name in our country, is going to need some time to recover the past positive reputation of the Matenadaran. I think that many discontented employees of the Matenadaran will bring up more "dark stories" soon. It’s another issue whether this information will bring about positive results or not.
