Laci’s story from Armenopolis to Yerevan

Arpi — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 06:00:21 +0000

On our first day in Yerevan we went into town, to the Matenadaran, Laci’s workplace, where they keep the oldest manuscripts in the world, where they archive them and exhibit some of them.
The Matenadaran, and in front the creator of the Armenian alphabet and his pupil.
Laci lives in a very modest little ground floor apartment in one of Yerevan’s Northern districts.
Laci has a dog, Jack, that is barking all night and keeps the whole house awake.
In Laci’s apartment (like in several Yerevan districts) you only get water in the morning and between 6 and 10 in the evening. This restriction made me think, how much we waste water. Eg. after taking a shower the waster water, which is only slightly soapy, could be perfectly OK to use for flushing the toilet, instead it goes straight into the sewers. I heard it somewhere that in 20 years a litre of water will be much more expensive than a litre of petrol…. I’ve no idea where the truth lies, but I fear we will see.
Laci was 13 when he found out in Szamosújvár (latin name: Armenopolis) that his grandmother is Armenian, which means that he has Armenian ancestors. In the attic of the church in Szamosújvár he found a large number of very old and very valuable manuscripts, took photos of them all, brought those photos to the Matenadaran in Yerevan where they keep the ancient manuscripts. He also made a new map of the cemetery in Szamosújvár. Finally, two years ago he made a brave decision, bought himself an aeroplane ticket to Yerevan, because he always felt, ever since he discovered his Armenian ancestry, that his place is in Armenia.
He got a job archiving manuscripts in the great archive, the famous Matenadaran.

After studying for a year and a half, he managed to learn to speak Armenian almost as well as a native speaker. Laci’s great dream and mission is to save those Armenian manuscripts he found in the attic space of the church in Szamosújvár and to exhibit them in an Armenian muserum in Szamosújvár.
We were very happy to spend 8 days with him, that he shared his apartment, his stories and his life with us. During this time we felt that Laci enjoyed our company as much as we enjoyed his.
He spent several nights telling us about his adventurous and very exciting life, and on this page I wanted to give a short account of the life of an interesting and valuable man with whom – to our great delight – we were brought together on our journey.

Honeymoon Around the World » Jack

Laci’s story from Armenopolis to Yerevan