This year Hovhannes Tumanyan's birthday - the Book Giving Day is dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the birth of Yeghishe Charents.
As part of the Book Giving Day, RA Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports Vahram Dumanyan, together with Deputy Minister Ara Khzmalyan and Ministry staff visited the Hovhannes Tumanyan Museum. The Minister, accompanied by the Director of the Museum, Ani Yeghiazaryan, toured the Museum, got acquainted with the book collection stored in Tumanyan's personal library, and the memory section; discussed issues related to the Museum.
According to the theme of the day, the Minister gave the Museum the work “The tenderness of our rose petals is stronger than their anger”. The Director of the Tumanyan Museum handed over to the Minister a book “Hovhannes Tumanyan: Thoughts” which was published by the Museum. The Director of the Charents House-Museum Zhanna Manukyan presented a new book “Personal Library of Yeghishe Charents: Bibliography” at the event, which was given to the Minister and the Tumanyan Museum.
The Minister then participated in the opening of the exhibition “Book as a birthday gift: Charents-Tumanyan”, in the Museum. The exhibition was organized within the cooperation between the Hovhannes Tumanyan Museum and the Yeghishe Charents House-Museum. According to the Director of the Hovhannes Tumanyan Museum, Ani Yeghiazaryan, books from Tumanyan's personal library with Charents’ autographs, and from Charents' personal library with the autographs for Tumanyan's family members are unique and have never been on a public display.
Tumanyan-Charents relations were presented by Charents' granddaughter Gohar Charents and literary critic Azat Yeghiazaryan. Book-relics with autographs stored in the personal libraries of the great Armenian poets Yeghishe Charents and Hovhannes Tumanyan, interesting episodes about their friendship and life were presented in the exhibition.
Touching upon the great figures of Armenian literature presented on one platform, Minister Vahram Dumanyan noted that all the works of Tumanyan and Charents are beautiful, but "Gikor" is of special importance for him.
Regarding the concept of the Book Giving Day, the Minister noted that it has a deep meaning and wants the holiday to serve its mission.
“This wonderful holiday aims at enriching the spiritual world of the society through a book. I wish people were able to communicate the way Tumanyan, Charents, and our other great figures used to. The culture of such communication will lead to kindness, solidarity, national, spiritual uplift, and power. Education is at the heart of all this. I think such events and holidays have a positive impact on various segments of society - from children to adults. We’ll be able to overcome all the difficulties and problems only through spiritual enrichment, culture, and education. I believe that we have a good future with spiritual harmony,” noted Vahram Dumanyan.
It should be noted that within the framework of the Book Giving Day, the Minister also attended the concert of the “Anush-Anush” youth choir of the Tumanyan Museum, during which performances of Tumanyan's works were performed.