KHACHATUR ABOVYAN ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Today marked the opening of the exhibition dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the foundation of the Nersisyan Spiritual School at the Armenian State Pedagogical University.

The exhibition featured the carbon copies of more than 200 archival documents and photos, the originals of which are stored in the National Archives of Georgia, the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts (Matenadaran) in Yerevan, the History Museum of Armenia, the Yeghishe Charents Museum of Literature and Arts, the National Museum of Armenian Ethnography and History of Liberation Struggle in Sardarapat, the House-Museum of Pertch Proshyan and in the private collection of Levon Chidilyan.

Among those attending the exhibition were Chair of the ASPU Board of Trustees, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Armenia Zhanna Andreasyan; Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to Geogia Ashot Smbatyan; Ambassador of Georgia to Armenia George Sharvashidze; Georgian-Armenian public figure, intellectual and the organizer of the exhibition Levon Chidilyan, as well as the administration, professors and students of the ASPU.

Chair of the ASPU Board of Trustees Zhanna Andreasyan attached importance to the exhibition and considered symbolic the fact that the connection to education is particularly discussed during these days when both Armenia and Georgia are confronting the same challenges and hardships.

The Minister viewed the Nersisyan School as a unique phenomenon and said it is not by chance that the exhibition has opened at the Armenian State Pedagogical University since most of the remarkable students of the School are pedagogues, whose legacy can be explored for months in order to understand the views that served as the most innovative and most progressive ideas for approaches to pedagogy and teaching and, as such, conditioned the essence of and approach to Armenian pedagogy for decades. “The exhibition dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the foundation of the Nersisyan School serves as continuation of the history of teaching and education that is being shaped today in universities for the development of our country. It is important to have an opportunity to value the heritage that we have and talk about it from the perspective of the future,” the Minister remarked and voiced hope that many people will attend the exhibition.

Georgia’s Ambassador to Armenia George Sharvashidze is participating in the exhibition dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the foundation of the Nersisyan Spiritual School for the second time already (the exhibition opened in the building of the Tbilisi Nersisyan Spiritual School at Caucasian University in January).

The Ambassador emphasized that the educational complex has truly served as the cradle of education and intelligentsia with remarkable reforms. As a representative of the education sector, the Ambassador set aside the period in which Nikol Galanderyan was a student, talked about the role of Mantashev in the school and voiced hope that in the future his Armenian colleague will help open new exhibitions featuring enriched photos in both countries.

Armenia’s Ambassador to Georgia Ashot Smbatyan says there are three major symbols that lie at the core of the opening of the exhibition; even today, the Nersisyan Spiritual School continues to serve as a bridge of friendship between the two countries, the Armenian State Pedagogical University bears the name of Great Enlightener Khachatur Abovyan who studied at Nersisyan Spiritual School for three years, and he attached importance to the fact that there are still classes in the building of the Tbilisi Nersisyan Spiritual School, which also houses the Caucasian University. Summing up, the Ambassador attached importance to the opening of the exhibition at the ASPU, adding that many celebrities have left an indelible trace in history, have become great pedagogues, established educational institutions also in Armenia and have transmitted their education to the young generations.

ASPU Rector Srbuhi Gevorgyan said the opening of the exhibition is important for the ASPU and shared the history of the Nersisyan Spiritual School, which was established in 1824 in Tbilisi at the initiative of Catholicos of All Armenians, Nerses Ashtaraketsi. She listed great Armenian intellectuals, remarkable public figures and scholars, including Khachatur Abovyan, who received their education at Nersisyan Spiritual School, which helped shape their individuality, adding that their careers serve as major contribution to not only Armenian education, but also education around the world to this day.

The Rector said the 100-year-old educational heritage of the Nersisyan Spiritual School is also important from the perspective of the establishment of the best traditions of the Armenian-Georgian relations and friendship and said it is not by chance that generations of Georgian princes have also studied at the School. Srbuhi Gevorgyan viewed the exhibition as an important message also in terms of continuing the friendship and launching new cooperation.

Dean of the ASPU Faculty of History and Social Sciences Edgar Hovhannisyan informed that in October the ASPU and the Caucasus University will host an international scientific conference, the aim of which is to touch upon the history of the Nersisyan Spiritual School, Armenian culture and education and the Armenian-Georgian relations. “The Nersisyan School helped shape the educational and cultural elites and was one of the first institutions to prepare teachers. The Armenian elite established an institution that was exemplary and progressive amid the conditions of its time and one that complied with European educational institutions in terms of building and substance, and this was stated by American scholars,” he said.

Georgian-Armenian public figure, intellectual Levon Chidilyan, who was attending the exhibition, extended thanks to Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to Georgia Ashot Smbatyan for holding and supporting the event.

Chidilyan considered it a great honor for him to represent the exceptional educational institution, the aim of the founders and the succeeding administrators of which was to provide an education for not only erudite, but also devoted Armenians. “If a student of the School was educated, but was not devoted to the national interests, that student could not be a representative of the Nersisyan School,” the speaker stated.

After the speeches, Levon Chidilyan shared with the guests of the event the history behind the photos showcased at the exhibition.