9 February 2018
On Sunday February 4th, in Almelo, AGBU Holland held the screening of the documentary film Voskan Yerevantsi, in cooperation with the Armenian Church of Almelo and Homenetmen Almelo, under the auspices of His Grace Bishop Vahan Hovannisian, the Primate of the Armenian diocese in France and Pontifical Officer of the Patriarchate of Western Europe.
The film tells the journey of Voskan Yerevantsi, an Armenian born in Iran in 1614, in its epic struggle to produce Armenian books in the 17th century. Voskan Yerevantsi was the first Armenian publisher of the Bible. He set on his mission at Saint Sarkis Monastery of Ushi in Aragats, in present-day Armenia, and ended it in Amsterdam in 1668, after going through Rome and Marseilles.
About 280 people, Dutch and Armenians united, attended the screening with more than 50 VIP guests, including Ambassador Dzouinik Aghadjanyan, the mayor of the city of Almelo, Arjen Gerritsen, MP Pieter Omtzigt and several other public figures and representatives of Armenian and Dutch organizations.
The evening started with a welcome speech by AGBU Youth Comity leader, Araz Kazanjian, which was followed by a speech by His Grace Bishop Vahan Hovannisian about the figure of Voskan Yerevantsi and the reason why he came to Amsterdam. As mentioned by Serpazan Vahan, the Netherlands is “a country of true freedom” and the Armenian nation is grateful to Holland “for receiving the opportunity to print the holly words of God in Armenian”. The speech of the Ambassador of Armenia was followed by the Mayor of Almelo who thanked the Armenian community and spoke of its important role in the life of the city of Almelo where Armenians represent 8% of the total population of the 72.000 inhabitants. In conclusion, Harout Palanjian, the Vice-chairman of AGBU Holland, added that “the Armenians of Almelo are well educated and very well integrated into the Dutch society while also cherishing their national culture and traditions”.
The producer of the film Mr. Nver Mnatsanakian, who traveled from Armenia to attend the screening, expressed his gratitude to AGBU for supporting the production of the movie.
To view the photo gallery of this event, please click HERE.
