Days of Armenia at the Royal Armoury of Sweden

05 February, 2016

Sweden's oldest museum, the Royal Armoury (Livrustkammaren) is hosting Days of Armenia, organized jointly by the museum and the Embassy of Armenia in Stockholm.

On February 4th, the Royal Armoury, located inside the Royal Palace of Stockholm, held a lecture on "Armenian-Swedish historical relations". Members of the Swedish Royal Court, MPs, ambassadors accredited to Sweden, heads of cultural institutions, intellectuals and media representatives and members of the Armenian community attended the event.

Artsvi Bakhchinyan, senior researcher from the Institute of History of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, who has authored monographs and articles on the Armenian-Swedish relations held a lecture. The lecture concerned the historical connections and economic and cultural ties between the Armenian and Swedish peoples since Middle Ages until the beginning of 20th century and reflected on the role of nobles, diplomats and royal courtiers of Armenian descent in the social and political life of Sweden. Following the lecture Artsvi Bakhchinyan also answered numerous questions raised by attendees.

The central event organized at the museum is the exhibition "Tracing the Raw Silk Trade: Armenian merchants at the Court of Karl XI". The exhibition is dedicated to the history ofthe first silk import to Sweden, which was carried out in 1687 by Armenian merchants of New Julfa accompanied by the special envoy of the Swedish monarch, Ludwig Fabritius. The merchants visited Stockholm to negotiate the northern direction of the “Silk Road," which led to the signing of a trade agreement with Karl XI. The Armenian merchants were given privileged right of import for their goods via Russia to Sweden and then to other European countries. The exhibition showcases the original text of the agreement, one of the seven gold-plated sabers presented by merchants to the King, the ceremonial mace of merchants and other unique artefacts. The exhibition will be presented throughout 2016.

On 28 January the Swedish edition of the famous writer and publicist Zori Balayan book "No Right to Die" was presented at the museum.

Within the framework of the cultural activities the Royal Armoury is also hosting Armenian storytelling events. The members of Stockholm Association of Storytellers (Berättarnätet Öst) are through their unique presentation and various scenic performances telling the children and teens famous Armenian fairy tales in Swedish and English.

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