Matenadaran Denies Reports of Loss and Sale of Arabic Manuscripts

The Mashtots Matenadaran has issued a statement refuting claims regarding the alleged disappearance and sale of Arabic manuscripts from its collection.

According to the Matenadaran's clarification, a user by the name of Vardan Ghukasian posted false information on Facebook on March 28, 2020, claiming that Arabic manuscripts had disappeared and been sold from the Matenadaran. The institution urges the aforementioned Facebook user to publicly retract this slander.

For public awareness, it is stated that no roof collapses or renovation work has occurred at the Mashtots Matenadaran in 2018 or afterwards, and no manuscripts were evacuated from the Matenadaran's holdings in 2018. The collection is stored in a secure location that does not require the removal of manuscripts during any construction work.

As a standard procedure, the manuscripts are listed and numbered with a pencil mark on each page. The photographs shared by the Facebook user show manuscripts that are not recorded, which confirms that they do not belong to the Matenadaran's collection.

The Matenadaran's manuscripts are regularly cataloged and registered (the last inventory was conducted in 2019) and are entirely housed within the institution. To date, no losses have been recorded. Furthermore, the manuscript collection has only been enriched since its creation.