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Mr Putin displayed great interest in the written Armenian heritage, collected over many centuries.

Sen Arevshatian, Fellow of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences and Matenadaran Director, told Mr Putin that the Matenadaran was one of the world’s foremost centres in terms of the number of manuscripts in storage and their importance. It presently possesses more than 13,000 manuscripts and book fragments, many of them the world’s only extant copies.

Named after Mesrop Mashtots, founder of the Armenian alphabet, the Matenadaran is not only a museum but also a research institute. Donations from the Armenian Diaspora have steadily enriched its collection.