The Matenadaran has a history of 1600 years.

Armenian medieval matenadarans and universities played an inestimable role in the development of Armenian culture, literature, historiography and manuscript writing, as well as preserving the Armenians’ national conscience and identity.

The Mashtots Matenadaran is the direct successor of medieval matenadarans and universities. It is one of the greatest centers in the world where manuscripts and archive documents are preserved and studied. More than 243,000 medieval manuscripts, old printed books, archive documents, as well as books in Armenian and Oriental studies are preserved here.