page_title: Armenian education in Cyprus
section_title: Melkonian
hierarchical_section_title: Armenian education in Cyprus / Melkonian
caption_attribution_description: English: One of the famous entrances of the Melkonian Educational Institute in Nicosia Ελληνικά: Μία από τις δύο διάσημες εισόδους του Εκπαιδευτικού Ινστιτούτου Μελκονιάν στη Λευκωσία
context_page_description: Education is the foundation for the preservation of Armenian national and cultural heritage. Armenian schools teach and cultivate Armenophony, Armenology, the age-old Armenian history and the rich Armenian traditions, thus ensuring the perpetuation of Armenianism from generation to generation. The very existence of Armenian educational institutions in the countries of the Armenian Diaspora shows exactly the importance, the perseverance and the tireless efforts that the numerous Armenian communities make to avoid the "white massacre", the assimilation and peaceful disintegration of the Armenian nation. Therefore, in a way, the continuance of Armenian education up to our days is a sign of victory against the "red massacre", the Genocide.
context_section_description: The renowned Melkonian Educational Institute (Մելգոնեան Կրթական Միութիւն) was built off Limassol Avenue in Aglandjia after the generous and benevolent donation of tobacco-trading brothers Krikor and Garabed Melkonian, who were not left apathetic by the horrific Armenian Genocide. Adana Prelate, Bishop Moushegh Seropian, had encouraged the Melkonian brothers [commonly referred to as parerarner (բարերարներ=benefactors)] to undertake such a project, in order to give shelter and education to about 500 Armenian orphans of the Armenian Genocide who had fled to Syria, Lebanon and Mesopotamia. According to tradition, the location, at the time 3 km outside Nicosia, is said to have been chosen in 1923 by Garabed Melkonian himself, because no minarets could be seen from there. Its foundation stone was laid on 15 February 1924 by High Commissioner Sir Malcolm Stevenson and it was inaugurated on 13 February 1926 by Archbishop Zaven der Yeghiayian. The grove in front of the school was planted by the first orphans, in memory of their relatives who perished during the Armenian Genocide. The Melkonian evolved from an orphanage (1926–1940) to a renowned secondary school (1934–2005). A unique and unparalleled achievement, it was a beacon of hope and culture for Armenianism and Armenophony across the world, boasting an international membership of Armenian students from over 30 countries. From 1930 until its unjust closure in 2005, 1.828 students graduated from here. Rightly, it was called an ambassador of Cyprus to all over the world. It had a boarding section, a rich library and well-equipped laboratories.
  On top of the entrances of the twin school buildings, there was the following inscription in Armenian:
  ՄԵԼԳՈՆԵԱՆ ԿՐԹԱԿԱՆ ՀԱՍՏԱՏՈՒԹԻՒՆ (Melkonian Educational Institute)
  Above each entrance canopy there were two reddish-brown crests containing the date that each building's construction started and ended. They read as following:
  1924 Փետր. 15 (15 February 1924) (left side, boys' building)
  1925 Նոյ. 21 (21 November 1925) (right side, boys' building)
  1924 Դեկտ.  12 (12 December 1924) (left side, girls' building)
  1925 Դեկտ. 24 (24 December 1925) (right side, girls' building)
  Garabed Melkonian assigned the administration of the school to the AGBU on 28 December 1925. Upon becoming a secondary school, the Melkonian Educational Institute offered various branches of education. Between 1935–1967 there was a pedagogigal/teachers' section, between 1936–1942 there was a technical school (according to the reports of the Director of the Department of Education, the first true technical school of the island), between 1937–1964 and 1974–2005 there was a commercial section, between 1950–2005 there was a science section, between 1964–1973 there was a general education section, while between 1966–1975 there was a social sciences section. Other than English, French and Armenian (both Western Armenian and Classical Armenian), at times and depending on the countries of origin of the student population, the students were also taught Greek, Arabic, Persian, Bulgarian and Russian.
  Also known as "an island within an island", it had a great educational and cultural impact on the Armenian-Cypriot community. It had a theatre group, a dance group, a choir, a band, a football team, a basketball team, a boys' volleyball team and a girls' volleyball team, as well as the historical 7th Cyprus Scout Group (1932–2006) and the 9th Cyprus Guide Team (1950–2005). The Melkonian Educational Institute published the famous Ayk magazine [Այգ (Dawn), 1937–1940, 1948–1956, 1959–1964, 1970–1976, 1978–1982, 1993–2006], the oldest Armenian secondary school magazine, as well as the Tsolk newspaper [Ցոլք (Gleam), 1968–1991] and Hayatsk newspaper [Հայեացք (Glance), 1998–2000], which later on became the Hayatsk magazine (2000–2004).
  The Melkonian Educational Institute had been the largest and longest-living Western Armenian boarding school. The new boarding section was built between 1987–1989 by architects Iacovos & Andreas Philippou to the east of the twin buildings; its foundation stone wa
caption: One of Melkonian's entrances
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "768", "Image ImageLength": "1024", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image ImageDescription": "VLUU L110, M110  / Samsung L110, M110", "Image Make": "Samsung Techwin", "Image Model": "VLUU L110, M110  / Samsung L110, M110", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2012:07:02 18:50:00", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "COPYRIGHT, 2007", "Image ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "Image WhiteBalance": "Auto", "Image DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "Image FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "35", "Image SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "Image Contrast": "Normal", "Image Saturation": "Normal", "Image Sharpness": "Normal", "Image ExifOffset": "500", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1142", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6471", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/180", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:05:22 09:50:45", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:05:22 09:50:45", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "398317/98304", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "369/50", "EXIF ApertureValue": "297/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "297/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "768", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1024", "EXIF RelatedSoundFile": "RelatedSound", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "1", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "35", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}