The entrance door of the Matenadaran, Yerevan

The entrance door of the Matenadaran. The Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, the Matenadaran, is in Yerevan. It is one of the largest manuscript repositories in the world and the largest repository of ancient Armenian manuscripts. A museum open to visitors operates at the institute.

The Matenadaran was created on the basis of the manuscript collection of Etchmiadzin Monastery, nationalised in 1920; the beginning of that collection goes back to the 5th century and to Mesrop Mashtots (c. 361–440), the creator of the Armenian alphabet. In 1939 the collection was moved from Etchmiadzin to Yerevan. The present building was built in 1959 to a design by the architect Mark Grigoryan.

The metal door is covered with interlaced and radiating ornament, and a ring-shaped handle sits at the centre of a large round motif.