National Library of Armenia, National library in Kentron District, Yerevan, Armenia
The National Library of Armenia is the main repository for Armenian literature, manuscripts, and historical documents, located in the Kentron District of Yerevan. It contains several reading rooms and study areas, as well as a digital collection of millions of pages of Armenian texts.
The institution was founded in 1832 as part of a school in Yerevan and became an official national library in 1919. That change came with Armenia's desire to have a dedicated place for gathering and keeping its written heritage.
Since 1999, 4 July has been celebrated as the Day of the National Library, marking the 1919 law that gave the institution state status. The Museum of Typography, opened on 25 September 2017, spreads its exhibits across six halls, from rock paintings and cuneiform to the Armenian alphabet and early Armenian printing. The library's oldest treasures include Urbatagirk, printed in Venice in 1512, the newspaper Azdarar from Madras (1794–1796), and the Armenian world map printed in Amsterdam in 1695.
It is worth checking opening hours in advance and finding out what is needed to use the reading rooms before your visit. The building sits in central Yerevan and is easy to reach by public transport.
The building was designed in 1939 by Alexander Tamanyan, the architect who shaped much of central Yerevan's look. From the start, it was planned to store very large numbers of books, and the structure still reflects the practical thinking of the mass printing era.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,635 contributors worldwide.
