KHACHATUR ABOVYAN ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

The presentation of the book “History of Armenia” by Movses Khorenatsi took place in Belgrade. Among the guests present at the event there were the Director of the RA NAS Institute of History, Academician Ashot Melkonyan, the RA NAS Associate Member, the Head of the ASPU Department of Ancient and Medieval Armenian Literature and its Teaching Methods Aelita Dolukhanyan, who is also the author of the professional preface of the Khorenatsi’s history, as well as the Deputy Director of the Yerevan History Museum Lucinei Amirjanyan.

This monumental work of exceptional value in the world history has also been translated into Serbian, which is a significant cultural event for friendly Armenian and Serbian people who shared similar destinies in some sense.

This event was initiated and fulfilled by joint efforts of a devoted daughter to Serbian people, writer, translator, and art figure Vesna Pešić and the Honorary Council of Serbia in Armenia Babken Simonyan.

The latter is making huge efforts to strengthen Armenian and Serbian literary and cultural ties, knows Serbian language as native, and makes talented Serbian-Armenian and vice-versa translations.

At the presentation Babken Simonyan spoke about the part he took in the process of translation, followed by a speech delivered by the author of the preface translation Aelita Dolukhanyan, after which Ashot Melkonyan made his wrap-up speech.

Further on, during the event, a young Serbian actress presented a short performance from the “Hayk and Bell” myth.

Within the scope of the three-day visit, the Armenian intellectuals got familiarised with the sights and cultural locations of Belgrade, attended the Armenian cultural days and the international film festival.

In addition, by the initiative of Babken Simonyan, the Armenian delegation had a meeting with His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia, who brilliantly knew the past and present history of Armenia. The latter was happy to accept the translated version of the “History of Armenia” by Movses Khorenatsi from Vesna Pešić.