Only in Armenia

In the 12th century, the first illustrations to manuscripts appeared and starting from that time the art of miniatures was born. Armenian manuscript art features the following styles of letter design: “kendanagir” – letters in the shape of animals, “trchnagir” – letters in the shape of birds, “tsakhkagir” – letters in the shape of flowers. Armenian manuscripts are called “matyan” (magazine, book), which reflects the appearance of the manuscript. The paper in the manuscripts is thin, soft and light, and is valuable because it was polished and coated with wax on both sides, helping to retain the paint well. The main and first type of writing for Armenians was Erkatagir (literally, “iron writing”): large letters, straight, with elegantly rounded lines connecting the vertical elements of the letters or flowing out of them. There are about 10 variations of this writing style. In the 13th century, a new style appeared – Bolorgir (translated as “writing for all”), which had more delicate forms. “Shghagir” is a handwritten font that is rarely found in manuscripts and was primarily used for notes. It was precisely “Shghagir” that became the basis for modern handwritten script in Armenia. In the 17th and 18th centuries, “Notagir” was used, a writing style resembling musical notes, consisting mainly of small and slanted letters. Nowadays, about 30,000 ancient Armenian manuscripts have been preserved, stored in libraries across different countries of the world. The largest repositories are the Matenadaran in Yerevan (about 14,000), the library of the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem (more than 4,000), the library of the Mekhitarist Congregation in Venice (about 5,000), and the Austrian National Library.