An Armenian manuscript: The Gospel of Hałpat (Matenadaran 6288)

Abstract

The Gospel of Hałpat was defined as «The masterpiece of the Hałpat’s school», both thanks to the beauty of its miniatures, and it is the only preserved illuminated manuscript of the important medieval monastery of Hałpat (today it is a village close to the Armenian and Georgian border). Its final location is the Matenadaran library in Yerevan, where it is exhibited everyday in the museum’s showcases: the index number of the Gospel of Hałpat is 6288.

The manuscript was discovered in the late nineteenth century at the church of the village of Getašen, in Arc῾ax, hence the other name of the Gospel (much less used than the first one, especially today), namely the Gospel of Getašen. In 1920 it was picked up and carried to Ēǰmiacin by Garegin Hovsepyan (who also edited an initial study), and finally, after the opening of the Matenadaran, the Gospel has found its final location.