Special Series on Historical Linguistics with Dr. Hrach Martirosyan

As part of our dedicated programme celebrating 20 years of the Armenian Institute, we’re excited to announce the special series, ‘The Origins & Historical Development of the Armenian Language’ with Dr. Hrach Martirosyan. The series provides an overview of Armenian historical linguistics, from Indo-European roots and connections to Urartian, into the light of history with the invention of the alphabet and writing system, and ending on the various dialects of the spoken language.

Dr. Martirosyan is the world’s premier specialist in Armenian linguistics, and the author of the forthcoming Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon, part of the University of Leiden’s project to compile a complete Indo-European etymological dictionary. He’s held positions at the University of Leiden, the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna and UCLA, and published widely on Armenian historical linguistics and etymology. Alongside his strictly academic work, Hrach has long pioneered teaching outside of formal contexts, running an online course at the website Hayerenagitutyan akademia, and the project HayaSSA: Hiking Summer School of Armenology.

So this series is the perfect way to celebrate 20 years of linguistic heritage at AI, and Dr. Martirosyan is the perfect person to take us on this journey. Join us for the public lecture this Thursday, 6.30pm UK time, for an overview of Armenian’s Indo -European origins. For a deeper dive into Armenian’s origins join us again on Saturday at 11am UK time for the first AI studio workshop, and at 2pm we’ve got the second on Classical & Middle Armenian. Finally, on Sunday at 6pm UK time, the final in our AI Studio series explores Armenian dialects, in particular those of Hamshen and Artsakh.

For the full listing see below, or visit the events page on our website or on Facebook. The whole series is blended in-person and on Zoom - if you’re interested in attending in person please contact our programme manager at nik@armenianinstitute.org.uk 

Also, the following week, at 7.30pm UK time on Tuesday 26th, Hrach will also join us for a special edition of one of our regular event formats - watch out for the announcement in the very near future...

Welcoming the New Ambassador

Our director Tatevik Ayvazyan and trustees Tatiana Der Avedissian and Stephen Masters attended the reception to welcome His Excellency Varuzhan Nersesyan, the ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to the UK on 29 September. The evening was organised by the Armenian Community Council and it was pleasure to meet so many new and old friends in person, after all the lockdowns!

We chatted with the new ambassador about possible collaboration plans, joint events and introducing more contemporary Armenian culture to the British public, and we can’t wait to host H.E. Varuzhan Nersesyan in our library soon.

We are very grateful to ACC and its chairman Armand Abramian for the invitation and their excellent work in the community.

The Armenian Institute is also proud to host the ambassador on 5 October 2021, reflecting on the impacts of the devastating 44-day war.

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Nik Matheou has a new co-edited volume

We're very proud to announce our programme manager, Nik Matheou, has published his second co-edited volume! Exploring the relationship between the Italian peninsula and the East Roman ("Byzantine") world between the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the Fourth Crusade, Nik's chapter took a look at the phenomenon of Armenian officials and elites in the capital of the imperial South, Bari.

Here you have lots of evidence for Armenian speakers and churchmen, but a closer look reveals an interesting story of the emergence not of distinct ethnoreligious communities, but a distinct identity that crossed linguistic bounds - a story in which Armenian speakers took centre stage.

You can see images of the book here, and will be able to come and read the chapter in the copy kindly donated to our library. We also include images of a document from c.1000 witnessed in Greek, Latin and Armenian, as well as the typically Armenian architecture of S. Giorgio degli Armeni, built c.990.

Armenian Summer Festival

We are going to hold a Second Hand Book Bazaar for Armenian Summer Festival London this Sunday!

We’ve got amazing discounts on pre-loved Armenian history, poetry, travel, music, art & literature books and novels too! We’ve even got a selection of new books from our online shop - including a children’s section - which you can take home on the day or reserve & let us post to you!

Visit our stall to take part in our lucky dip (yes, they’re wrapped up!), happy hour deals & student discount. Plus, a special treat if you follow us across all social media platforms

Come along and see what treasures you may find!

An Armenian Triptych: Retracing Our Steps

The Armenian Institute held the worldwide premiere of An Armenian Triptych: Retracing Our Steps, a new multimedia collaboration between Aram Bajakian, Kevork Mourad, and Alan Semerdjian, on Sunday, June 27th 2021, followed by a discussion with the 3 artists, moderated by the AI director Tatevik Ayvazyan.

The collaboration is inspired by German writer Heinrich Boll’s notion that “the artist carries death with him like a good priest his breviary,” Armenian Genocide recognition, and 2020’s 44-Day War in Artsakh. This is the artists’ second collaboration. The first, a video made in conjunction with the release of Bajakian and Semerdjian’s The Serpent and The Crane in 2020, garnered hundreds of thousands of views and streams on various platforms and was supported on social media by a wide range of cultural and educational institutions and notable personalities such as Kim Kardashian and musician/activist Serj Tankian.

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Aram Bajakian is a guitarist and composer who has toured and recorded with John Zorn, Lou Reed, Diana Krall, and Madeleine Peyroux.

Kevork Mourad is a performance and visual artist and member of The Silk Road Ensemble whose work has been exhibited all over the world.

Alan Semerdjian is an award-winning writer, musician, and educator.

Our Library Fundraiser Is Complete!

The Armenian Institute Library contains over 7000 volumes - many of them rare - in Armenian, Georgian, Ottoman Turkish, and most European Languages. Until now, it has not been easy for researchers to discover these valuable resources.

WorldCat is the world's largest bibliographic database and indexes the catalogues of over 15,600 libraries in 107 countries. You can search the database at https://www.worldcat.org/

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With the help of OCLC, which operates WorldCat, the team at the Armenian Institute has been working to convert our catalogue to the appropriate standards to be imported into the WorldCat database.

This will enable researchers exploring WorldCat to discover resources in the Armenian Institute Library that they might never have known about otherwise.

Your kind donations to our library fundraiser have helped pay for our team and OCLC to do this valuable work, and for the first year of the software subscription that will enable us to maintain the catalogue.

We are looking forward to being able to share the news of our catalogue being searchable very soon. We will continue to look for ways to improve the library and to help researchers discover our collections.

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Take the Armenian Diaspora Survey today!

Did you know that – according to the 2019 Armenian Diaspora Survey – 39% of Diaspora Armenians had never visited the Republic of Armenia or Artsakh?

This year, Armenians living in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Paris and Rostov-on-Don are encouraged to take the anonymous survey which enables the diaspora and its beliefs to be recorded and studied.

ADS started with a pilot study in 2018 in four communities: Boston, Cairo, Marseille and Pasadena. Following the successful pilot, in 2019 four more communities were surveyed: Argentina, Lebanon, Canada (Montreal) and Romania. The communities in the current survey were to be studied in 2020, but the fieldwork was postponed due to the pandemic and the second Artsakh war last year. In the Fall of this year, plans are underway to survey communities in North America. This would complete the three-year cycle of the project.

The Diaspora survey is now live for the Armenian communities in Britain (especially London, Manchester, Birmingham), Paris and its environs, Belgium (especially Brussels and Antwerp) and Rostov-on-Don, Russia.

The results of the 2018 and 2019 studies have been published separately. In addition to English, the 2019 study is also available in Armenian and Spanish. All of the reports could be downloaded for free from ADS website: www.armeniandiasporasurvey.com.

ADS2021 is your chance to share your views in the community, which are are important for our Diaspora!

Listen to the first ADS podcast to learn more about the people behind the survey, and hear some findings from Buenos Aires, Boston and Montreal.

Record label Young Turks Changes Name and Makes Donation to Armenian Institute

The Armenian Institute recently received a wholly unexpected phone call from a popular independent British record label. Young Turks, representing artists such as the xx, Jamie xx, FKA Twigs, and others, was about to announce the change of its name to Young on 6 April 2021. As their representative explained to AI Director Tatevik Ayvazyan, they had come to realise more fully the implications of the name’s associations with the Armenian Genocide, and wanted to disassociate themselves from it. They also wished to make a donation to a UK Armenian organisation and approached AI.

The full statement can be found on the company’s Instagram page. A number of major media outlets and magazines (The Guardian, BBC, Rolling Stone, NME, Clash and others) have also reported the story.

This change and donation is welcomed by AI as a generous gesture towards recognising the genocidal violence of the historical Young Turk regime. The brave decision was driven by the company itself, and sets an important example for all organisations worldwide which have adopted hurtful names and symbols. AI hopes this example encourages other organisations to pause for thought and be encouraged to take similar steps to recognise the pain and offence caused.

The donation to the Armenian Institute will support its activities and programmes, including two events held in April commemorating not only the Armenian Genocide, but also remembering our neighbours, fellow victim Assyrians and Greeks, as well as the Yezidi Genocide of 2014.

See the company’s announcement below:

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Armenian Diaspora Survey: Major Research on Diaspora Public Opinion Relaunched

The Armenian Diaspora Survey begins in four countries on 12 April.

LONDON (26.03.2021)—The Diaspora survey will be carried out this Spring in Armenian communities in Britain (especially London, Manchester, Birmingham), Paris and its environs, Belgium (especially Brussels and Antwerp) and Rostov-on-Don, Russia.

The Armenian Diaspora Survey (ADS) is an initiative of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, led by a group of scholars and researchers under the auspices of the Armenian Institute in London.

The study provides valuable insights into diaspora public opinion and an important snapshot of people’s thoughts on a host of issues. It offers evidence-based knowledge to the public and valuable data to community leaders, activists and policy makers in particular, giving them a better understanding and analysis of their communities for the development of programmes and projects.

ADS director Dr. Hratch Tchilingirian of Oxford University explained: “In our research we ask the respondents their thoughts and views on identity and related issues of belonging—as Armenians and as citizens of different countries. Other themes include language and culture, church and religion, community engagement, relations with Armenia, the pandemic and the Artsakh war.” The last two themes have been added in this year’s questionnaire.

“We encourage all members of the communities in this round of the study to take part in the survey,” appealed Tchilingirian. Any Armenian, aged 16 and older, living in Belgium, Britain, greater Paris and Rostov-on-Don can take the survey online, starting on 12th April,by visiting www.armeniansdiasporasurvey.com. Printed questionnaires are available to those who wish to complete it offline.

ADS started with a pilot study in 2018 in four communities: Boston, Cairo, Marseille and Pasadena. Following the successful pilot, in 2019 four more communities were surveyed: Argentina, Lebanon, Canada (Montreal) and Romania. The communities in the current survey were to be studied in 2020, but the fieldwork was postponed due to the pandemic and the second Artsakh war last year. In the Fall of this year, plans are underway to survey communities in North America. This would complete the three-year cycle of the project.

“We are pleased that this multi-country systematic survey of the Diaspora is now underway,” said Dr. Razmik Panossian, Director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s Armenian Communities Department. “This research project has very tangible policy consequences, especially in view of the enormous challenges Armenia and Armenians currently face,” he added.  

The results of the 2018 and 2019 studies have been published separately. In addition to English, the 2019 study is also available in Armenian and Spanish. All of the reports could bedownloaded for free from ADS website: www.armeniandiasporasurvey.com.

EasyFundraising: Donate To AI While Shopping Online!

As a charity, we rely on the donations, grants and support of our friends to fund what we love doing: hosting events and workshops that encourage us to learn together; creating digital content like blogs and podcasts, and of course, the expansion and cataloguing of our beloved library!

EasyFundraising is a tool that donates a small percentage from the retailer whenever you shop online - and it covers a huge variety of major stores including Currys PC World, Amazon, John Lewis, M&S, Argos and even Deliveroo & Just Eat!

To get involved and start donating anytime you make an online purchase (at no extra cost to you), all you need to do is sign up and create an account. Before you do so, you can enter the name of the cause you’d like to support (…we recommend the Armenian Institute…) and then register for free.

EasyFundraising welcomes over 4100 retailers and supports over 150,000 causes and charities, with 1.8 million users already! There’s even a function available on web browsers Chrome, Firefox and Safari which gives you donation reminders when you visit a site registered to EasyFundraising! You can add that here.

Although Amazon are covered by EasyFundraising and actually donate more if you use that site, you can also shop online at Amazon using this link, which donates 0.5% of profits to us as well, at no extra cost to you!

Tools like these allow us to support and contribute to causes that we believe in. Donating a small percentage of the profits that the retailer takes is a progressive way of businesses and people coming together to contribute to their communities.

If you have any questions at all about getting set up and shopping more to donate, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us!

World Book Day

For World Book Day, we have picked 5 books we enjoy from our bookshop and would like to share them with our followers.

1. I Ask You, Ladies and Gentlemen By Leon Surmelian

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We are very proud of our own publication of a personal tale of deep sorrow and profound gratitude, of terrible loss and a lively embrace of life itself. This out-of-print book, first published in 1945, a bestseller in its time, was internationally acclaimed and translated into many languages.

Available from:

2. The Armenian Legionnaires: Sacrifice and Betrayal in World War I By Susan Paul Pattie

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Following the devastation resulting from the Armenian Genocide, the survivors of the massacres were dispersed across the Middle East, Europe and North and South America. Not content with watching World War I silently from the sidelines, a large number of Armenian volunteers joined the Léegion d’Orient.

They were trained in Cyprus and fought in Palestine and Cilicia alongside Allied commander General Allenby, signed up on the understanding that should the Allies be successful, they would be part of an occupying army in their old homelands, laying the foundation for a self-governing Armenian state.

Available from:



3. Treasured Objects: Armenian Life in the Ottoman Empire 100 Years Ago. Edited by Vazken Khatchig Davidian, Susan Paul Pattie & Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian

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The Treasured Objects portrayed within provide pathways to visit the lives of Armenians 100 years ago, inspiring connections, dreams, ideas as we imagine the people who once used these items.

These Treasured Objects came together first as an exhibition of household items that had accompanied “their” families in the great dispersion of Armenians from their historic homelands.

Some escaped earlier but many belong to survivors of the genocide of 1915 or the destruction of Smyrna (Izmir) in 1922. In these textiles, pots, kitchen implements, books, documents and fine jewellery, we sense the presence of the previous owners and their traces in our lives today.

Available from:


4. Soviet Armenian Poetry Translated and edited by Mischa Kudian

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Armenian poetry dates back to the pre-Christian era, from which times fragments of epic songs were recorded in the fifth century. During the Middle Ages, it was at first mainly sacred in character but later included secular themes also.

In the period that followed, profane poetry came into its own, giving rise to a number of notable troubadours. The Renaissance of Armenian literature in the eighteenth century developed into two groups of writers, Western and Eastern.

It was against this ancient background that many modern poets emerged. The present volume introduces some of the foremost poets of Soviet  Armenia, such as Charents, Toumanian, Terian, Sahian, Sevak, Kapoutikian with poems and biographical notes.

Available from:

5.An Armenian Sketchbook by Vasily Grossman. Translated by Robert Chandler

Masterfully translated into English by Robert Chandler, An Armenian Sketchbook by Vasily Grossman is an evocative account of the author’s stay in Armenia in the early 1960s.

It is an intimate narrative of his impressions of the country and its people and the way they lived, its rocky, mountainous landscape and ancient churches. The book is full of vivid observations of an outsider, but also a reflection of Grossman’s place as a writer in Russia and on human dignity.

Available from:

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Treasures From The Library: New Podcast!

Our latest podcast series, Treasures From The Library, launches with our very own librarian Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian exploring Hrachya Acharian’s handwritten first edition etymological dictionary that came into our collection as part of Charles Dowsett’s library.

You can listen to our podcast on our website, as well as on all major streaming platforms:

Spotify: shorturl.at/nrDL4

Apple podcasts: shorturl.at/quyDJ

Google podcasts: shorturl.at/dgDIP

In our debut episode of Treasures From The Library, our very own librarian Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian details the history, contents and current relevance of Hrachia Acharian's etymological dictionary, hand-written in the early twentieth century after decades of studying the roots of Armenian words and compiling an ever-growing list.

Armenian Institute acquires Mashtots Press

Mischa Kudian, writer, translator, painter and dentist, specialised in English renderings of choice pieces from Armenian literature for which he set up the imprint Mashtots Press in the early 1970s. For over 20 years Kudian published his own retellings and translations of Armenian folk tales and the national epic David of Sassoun, as well as translations from Gregory of Narek (10 th century), an anthology of Soviet Armenian poetry and selected works from Hovannes Toumanian, Avetik Issahakian, Hagop Baronian and Shahan Shahnour. His translation of Vahan Totovents’s Scenes from an Armenian Childhood was an outstanding literary success. After Kudian’s death in 1997, the imprint fell into abeyance and the Armenian Institute is pleased to announce that it has now acquired the imprint and all its associated rights from Mischa Kudian’s heirs.