On August 20–28, the general assembly of ICOM (International Council of Museums) was held in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, and Armenia also participated in it. ICOM holds an assembly every three years, and specialists, leaders and researchers of museum work from all continents of the world attend it.
More than 3,000 participants from various international institutions attended debates, roundtables, networking and cultural events in Prague. The Armenian delegation, headed by ICOM Armenia President Hayk Mkrtchyan, participated in the assembly with 16 members representing various museums of Armenia, including Mashtots Matenadaran (one of the institutional structures of ICOM Armenia), the National Gallery of Armenia, the History Museum of Armenia, the Yerevan History Museum, the Yerevan Modern Art Museum, the Komitas Museum-Institute, the House-Museum of Aram Khachaturian, the Yeghishe Charents Museum of Literature and Art, the Russian Art Museum, as well as the Yerevan Municipality.
Tatev Saroyan, the Head of the Public Relations Department (topic: “The trajectory of coffee in the museums of Armenia”, committee: ICOM/CECA), Siranush Fahradyan, Senior Fundkeeper of the Archive (topic: “Introduction to the Matenadaran and its Collections”, committee: COMCOL/ICOM), and Anush Apresyan, a senior researcher of the Medieval Literature and Philology Department (topic: “The Combination of the Scholar and the Guide in Museum Work”, committee: ICOM ICTOP) participated from Matenadaran. The participants, being members of various committees of ICOM, presented Armenia and Matenadaran, giving reports and showing slides.
On August 23, Ashot Hovakimyan, the Ambassador of Armenia to the Czech Republic, received the participants of the assembly. During the meeting held at the embassy, they discussed future projects and opportunities for cooperation.
