University of

Gladzor Gladzor ( hy, Գլաձոր) is a village and the center of the Gladzor Municipality of the Vayots Dzor Province in Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands ...

( hy, Գլաձորի համալսարան, translit=Gladzori hamalsaran) was a medieval Armenian university, one of the two "great centres of learning" along with the University of Tatev () that were "essentially of a single tradition." It was established around 1280 by Nerses of Mush, a student of Vardan Areveltsi, and operated until 1340 and "left behind a rich intellectual heritage". The university grew out of the monastic center of learning of the Aghberts or Gladzor Monastery in the region of Vayots Dzor. It flourished under the patronage of the Orbelian and Proshian noble families. Gladzor had at least nine professors and around fifteen lecturers. The university's longtime head was Esayi of Nich (Nchetsi), who led the university until 1331. He was succeeded by the head teacher Tiratur. The noted miniature painters Toros Taronatsi, Avag and

Momik Momik ( hy, Մոմիկ; died 1333) was an Armenian architect, sculptor and a master artist of Armenian illuminated manuscripts. Mnatsakanian, Stepan and E. Zakaryan. ''«Մոմիկ»'' (Momik). Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia. vol. vii. Yerevan, Arme ...

taught and painted at Gladzor. Gladzor had its own bylaws and granted academic degrees. Its three main courses were as follows: 1. Armenian and foreign texts, 2. the art of manuscript writing, and 3. Armenian musical notation (khaz) and music. Among the subjects taught at the university were theology, mythology, philosophy, bibliology, grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, astronomy, chronology, and geometry. Around 350 students graduated from Gladzor University. The length of matriculation was seven to eight years, not counting the three years of religious education required to be admitted to the university. Graduates received the rank of '' vardapet''. Although it was referred to as a university and sometimes analogized to contemporary European universities, scholar S. Peter Cowe suggests that Gladzor and other medieval Armenian academies were more comparable to

monastic schools Monastic schools ( la, Scholae monasticae) were, along with cathedral schools, the most important institutions of higher learning in the Latin West from the early Middle Ages until the 12th century. Since Cassiodorus's educational program, the stan ...

Gallery

File:Manuscript of Gladzor University, 13-14th century, village Vernashen, Vayots Dzor, Armenia, 09.jpg,

Armenian manuscript Armenian illuminated manuscripts ( hy, Հայկական մանրանկարչություն, translit=Haykakan manrankarch'owt'yown), form an Armenian tradition of formally prepared documents where the text is often supplemented with flourishes suc ...

of Gladzor University File:Gladzor University, 13-14th century, village Vernashen, Vayots Dzor, Armenia, 10.jpg,

of Gladzor University File:Manuscript of Gladzor University, 13-14th century, village Vernashen, Vayots Dzor, Armenia, 11.jpg,

of Gladzor University File:Manuscript of Gladzor University, 13-14th century, village Vernashen, Vayots Dzor, Armenia, 12.jpg,

of Gladzor University File:Manuscript of Gladzor University, 13-14th century, village Vernashen, Vayots Dzor, Armenia, 14.jpg,

of Gladzor University

References

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External links

“Gladzor University” Historical-Cultural Museum-Reservation
{{authority control Universities in Armenia 13th century in Armenia 14th century in Armenia 1282 establishments in Europe 1282 establishments in Asia