A Passion to Preserve: The Collection of Berdj Garabedian

Our mission to collect, preserve, and promote Armenian history and culture. While we have spent the past 50 years working to serve this mission, we could not have done it without other likeminded collectors. This online exhibition looks at just a few pieces of the more than 300 in our collection originally collected by Berdj Garabedian. 

Born in 1908 in Beirut, Berdj Garabedian developed a passion for collecting at an early age. Moving between Beirut and Damascus, he was surrounded by ancient traditions and cultures with extensive Armenian and Middle Eastern influence, and became an avid collector of Armenian coins and metalware. 

In collaboration with His Holiness Karekin Hovsepian of the See of Cilicia in Antelias, another devoted coin collector, he organized a coin exhibition in the late 1940s in hopes of later incorporating that into a museum. The Catholicos assisted Garabedian in obtaining a scholarship for Armenian numismatic studies at the Sorbonne. There Garabedian began developing his status within the numismatic world, and was invited first by St. Lazar and later by the Vienna Mkhitarists to study and catalog their extensive collections. The passing of the Catholicos in 1952 just before Garabedian’s graduation put a hold on his dreams of becoming a curator. 

In 1955, Garabedian moved back to Damascus and worked other jobs to provide for his family.  Selling typewriters and cameras by day, studying coins and looking for new metalware by night, he traveled seeking pieces that told the stories of their makers and previous owners. 

Berdj Garabedian believed that preserving Armenian culture is the sacred and ultimate duty of every Armenian. This is a remarkable lifelong collection of metalware that is a celebration of the 18th and 19th century styles. The Armenian Museum was honored to acquire these objects in 2012, and they have served to educate the public on many facets of Armenian culture. Through this collection we are able to view a range of traditions in Armenian life from the most humble, to the everyday, to the very finest. 

Please click through the slideshow to see a sampling of the Garabedian Metalware Collection and catch a small glimpse into Garabedian’s collection and passion. More of the objects are currently on exhibit now in the Simourian Family Gallery on our second floor.

Captions are available by hovering your cursor over the images.