Armenian Treasures in Oxford's Bodleian Library

About this event

Established in 1602, the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford holds world-renowned treasures, including a 1217 Magna Carta, a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, and Shakespeare’s First Folio. Among these treasures is a distinguished collection of medieval Armenian manuscripts, which began taking shape in the 17th century through the efforts of Archbishop William Laud and now numbers around 120 manuscripts. The Bodleian Armenian collection is the second largest of its kind in the United Kingdom after the British Library, with the oldest manuscript dating to the eleventh century.This talk will examine the history of this collection and highlight specific remarkable samples from its holdings.

Dr. David Zakarian is the Haig and Isabel Berberian Endowed Chair of Armenian Studies at California State University, Fresno. He holds a DPhil in Oriental Studies from the University of Oxford. His doctoral thesis focused on the representation of women in early Christian Armenian texts. He taught Classical and Modern Armenian at Oxford from 2020 to 2024. Dr. Zakarian is the author of Women, Too, Were Blessed: The Portrayal of Women in Early Christian Armenian Texts and co-editor of Armenia through the Lens of Time. He has also published extensively on Armenian manuscripts and early Christian literature.