Saturday, 8 December 2012
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan Attends Armenian Typography 500th Anniversary-Dated Exhibition In Mainz
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan continues with his working visit to the Federal Republic of Germany.
On December 7, Tigran Sargsyan traveled to Mainz, where he met with Kurt Beki, Prime Minister of Reynland Pfalts region.
The parties looked at cooperation possibilities in agriculture, precision engineering, tourism and pharmaceutical industry. They also discussed joint projects related to small and medium-size business.
Then Tigran Sargsyan attended an Armenian typography 500th anniversary-dated exhibition at Gutenberg Museum of Mainz. The Premier toured the exposition getting acquainted with the exhibits.
Thanking the Head of Regional Government and Mainz Mayor Mikael Embling for assistance and cooperation, Tigran Sargsyan said he was pleased and highly honored to attend this wonderful exhibition.
Reminding that Armenia will be marking the 500-anniversary of the Armenian typography throughout the year, the Prime Minister said a number of events had already been organized to this end.
“Quite meaningful is that the series of events ends up in this wonderful museum of Mainz named after typography founder Johannes Gutenberg. The events kicked off last December in Venice where the “Armenia: traces of civilization” exhibition was inaugurated in Korer Museum under the auspices of the Presidents of Armenia and Italy.
Venice was not a random choice at all: 500 years ago in that very city was founded the first Armenian printing house which published the first Armenian printed book. For all that we owe to a man whose name is Hacob Meghapart.
Such an undertaking would have been impossible in historical Armenia which suffered under the Ottoman and Persian rules. Like many other Armenian intellectuals, Hacob Meghapart turned his eyes toward Europe in search of his dream,” Tigran Sargsyan stated.
According to the head of government, printing was much more to Armenians than just a tool of renaissance and enlightenment. As we lacked independent statehood, books and print media, education and culture enabled us to preserve our ethnic identity.
“Typography is just the same to Armenians as the early fifth century-dated invention of the Armenian alphabet, which provided a solid groundwork for cultural and spiritual development of the people.”
In this context, Tigran Sargsyan cited a New York Times column which reads as follows: “For many centuries Armenians have had specific attitude for books. Writers used to leave comments on how to properly care and maintain one’s books, how to keep them safe from threats and even on how to get them back mediating ransom, should they fell into the hands of the wrong person.”
Concluding his speech, the Prime Minister expressed gratitude to Gutenberg Museum leadership for the exceptional opportunity to introduce the Armenian culture to German society.
