Rouben Galichian, “History of Armenian cartography up to the year 1918,” “Zangak” publishing house, Yerevan, 2017, 164 pages
On September 15, at the Matenadaran after M. Mashtots, the presentation of the Armenian edition of the book “History of Armenian cartography up to the year 1918” by Rouben Galichian, a donor and friend of the Matenadaran, Honorable Doctor of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, was held. The work contains reprinting of all Armenian maps drawn or published up to the year 1918. The book presents more than 140 maps. The English edition of the book was published by London’s Bennet & Bloom Publishing Company.
Acting Director of the Matenadaran Vahan Ter-Ghevondian made an opening speech. V. Ter-Ghevondian emphasized the unique historical value of the book and stated that Rouben Galichian’s new work is an achievement in the field of Armenian historical studies.
Director of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia A. Melkonian highly appreciated R. Galichian’s huge work, noting that thanks to the latter, a new approach was formed according to which we are in the world cartography and the world is in our cartography.
Then the work was presented in detail by the author, Rouben Galichian. “The map for the Armenians is of crucial importance, and it’s not just about traveling. In our case, the map performs psychological, often subconscious, internal pushing to remember what we have lost. Armenian map is our guarantor of memory, ” said R. Galichian.
At the end of the presentation, Acting Director of Matenadaran V. Ter-Ghevondian handed the donor and friend of Matenadaran R. Galichian over the “Saint Mesrop Mashtots” Medal of Matenadaran. After the ceremony, the attendees were invited to the exhibition hall to watch the exhibited maps that included also the ones donated by Rouben Galichian.