Few people will be able to deeply understand the epic and remember it in detail. And it’s especially nice that our folk epic is becoming a source of inspiration for young people. This is the opinion of the jury of the competition game held at the National Library of Armenia “Best Epic Reader.”

A competition game dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the first edition of the epic “David of Sasun” and the 85th anniversary of the first edition of the original (1939), was held between teams of high school students of the National Polytechnic Foundation of Armenia (Polytech) under the names “Sasun”, “Aryuts Mher” " and "Maratuk". All three teams showed off their comprehensive knowledge. The Maratuk team won.

In 1874, Garegin Srvandztyants published a collection of legends and myths “Grots u Brotz”, in the appendix to which the first story of the epic “Sasna Tsrer”, discovered and recorded by him, was published under the title “Sasuntsi David or Mkheri Dur”. “This is a great opportunity to reflect on our national culture. The goal of the event is to stimulate the reading of the epic among the younger generation, to promote its recognition and awareness of its unique role” — emphasized Shushanik Kurginyan, organizer of the competition, teacher of the Armenian language and literature of the ASF secondary school, candidate of philological sciences.

The chairman of the competition jury, literary critic and epic specialist, Doctor of Philosophy, and teacher of the Department of Armenian Literature at Yerevan State University Hayk Ambartsumyan highly appreciated the quiz game and the deep knowledge of the participants, noting that anniversary events are an opportunity to touch our great values. Jury member, art critic, and literary critic Yervand Ter-Khachatryan said that he was impressed, moreover, fascinated by the knowledge of the epic among young people and that with their knowledge and worthy behavior they give us great hopes for the future.

The 16-year-old participants in the competition noted that they would very much like to become readers of the National Library soon. In parallel with the event, an exhibition of literature dedicated to the Armenian folk epic opened in the Small Exhibition Hall of the National Library. Among the exhibits are the editions of “Grotz u Brotz” and “Sasuntsi David or Mkheri Dur”, the first and subsequent three volumes of “Trees of Sasna” compiled by Manuk Abeghyan in 1936, “David of Sasun”, the first collective manuscript “85 years ago”, illustrated by Mher Abegyan, compiled by Manuk Abegyan, Aram Ganalanyan, edited by Hovsep Orbeli.

You can see many other exclusive exhibition materials in the Small Exhibition Hall of the National Library.