King Eumenes II of the Asia Minor state of Pergamon, who lived in the 2nd century BC, was a passionate lover of literature. In the capital of his state, Pergamon (now Bergama), he decided to build a huge library. At the time, the main writing material was Egyptian papyrus, so Eumenes II sent a group of people to Greece to buy papyrus. The Greeks, however, refused to sell them papyrus. The wisdom of “no harm without good” worked perfectly in this case. The masters of Pergamon offered mankind a new writing material by specially treating calf and lamb skins. It was called the Pergamon parchment. The Armenians did not accept this word and introduced the word “scroll” into circulation. 

Interestingly, Artsakh girls were also called Makaghat. Sayat-Nova used the word “scroll” twice in his Armenian games.

The manuscript is a collection of speeches, morals, testimonies, historical extracts and quotations classified according to the festivals of the year, for which it is also called “Festival”.

“Msho Charyntir”  manuscript originally numbered 660 diaries, 601 of them in Yerevan, 17 in Venice. The manuscript was stolen in 1202 by a foreign judge from Baberd, and after hiding it in Khlat for 2 years. The ransom was collected by local residents and the monastery’s faithful. Until 1915, the manuscript was kept at the Msho Arakelots monastery. During the great genocide, two Armenian women divided the manuscript into two parts (due to its weight) and transported it to Eastern Armenia. The two parts then reached the Armenian Ethnographic Society in Tiflis by different routes, from where they were brought to Yerevan.