Yesterday, on May 21, 2024, the Palace of the Republic of Poland was grandly opened, which has now become the treasury of the National Library presenting its most valuable objects. Among them, one of the most valuable Armenian manuscripts – the Skewra Gospel, called the Lviv Gospel, is the most valuable object in the legacy of Polish Armenians, which consists of resources saved after World War II from Armenian-Catholic parishes from the former Eastern Borderlands. Carefully and prudently hidden throughout the post-war years, it saw the light of day only in safe times, and due to its priceless value, in 2006 it was deposited in the National Library. Earlier, in Poland, it was presented at the “Armenian Exhibition in Lviv” in 1932. So, after almost 100 years, we can admire the original of this work again. Visiting the exhibition where the National Library made available real pearls from its resources, the oldest manuscripts, prints and sheet music – was not an easy matter, because there were proverbial crowds of people willing to do so. A coherent team of the Foundation for the Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians, supported by their closest friends, led by Vahram Mhitaryan, an Armenian director who is currently making a film about the fate of the Gospel Book, went to visit the exhibition at around 11 p.m. We were exceptionally lucky to have a “personal” guide, arranged in advance by Vahram, Dr. Maciej Szablewski, head of the Collections Access Department of the National Library. Our Guide showed us around subsequent rooms of the Palace, telling us about the extraordinary exhibits, and over time, the group of concerned people grew into almost a crowd of people concerned.
The final stage of the tour is an extremely moving room in which, against the background of animations and inscriptions, an urn with what the then employees of the Library found after the Warsaw Uprising is presented – ashes and volumes crumbling to dust – the German invader burned our national heritage!
We finished visiting this exceptionally interesting exhibition at 1:00 a group photo, of course, at the display case with the Skewra Gospels. A truly moving experience!
mot, photo: Mag
