The anniversaries of Hovhannes Aivazovsky and the first printed Bible in Armenian will be included in the UNESCO List of Anniversaries, as the Department of Public Relations of the RA Ministry of Culture reports to “Armenpress”.

According to Assistant Director-General for External Relations and Public Information at UNESCO Éric Falt, the applications completed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Armenia for the 200^th birth anniversary of Hovhannes Aivazovsky (Teodosia, 1817) and the 350^th anniversary of the first printed Bible in Armenian (Amstedam, 1666) have been approved to be included in the 2016-17 UNESCO List of Anniversaries.

The “200^th Birth Anniversary of Hovahnnes Aivazovsky” category was presented with the Russian Federation with the support of Italy. France and the Kingdom of the Netherlands helped present the application in the “350^th Anniversary of the First Printed Bible in Armenian” category. According to the rules and regulations, the applications will be submitted to the Executive Board and later to the General Summit through the procedure for final approval of the applications.

Since 1956, UNESCO has been participating in historic events celebrated by member states or in popularizing the anniversaries of celebrities. With that purpose, the calendars of proclaimed individuals and major events of the UNESCO are approved every two years and are prepared based on the applications received from member states and with relevant justification.