YEREVAN — United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, who arrived in Armenia to participate in the Biodiversity Leaders’ Summit ahead of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17), visited the Matenadaran, Armenia’s renowned repository of ancient manuscripts.

Accompanied by Armenia’s Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, Zhanna Andreasyan, Guterres toured the Matenadaran Museum and viewed exceptional examples of Armenia’s rich manuscript heritage.

At the conclusion of his visit, the UN Secretary-General left a message in the museum’s guestbook, expressing his appreciation for the preservation of Armenian cultural heritage.

“I extend my deepest gratitude to all the women and men whose work has contributed to the preservation and development of this extraordinary treasury of Armenian culture and history, for the benefit of the Armenian people and the cultural heritage of the entire world,” Guterres wrote.