A miniature depicting Esayi of Nich, abbot of Gladzor, while teaching
University of Gladzor (Armenian: Գլաձորի համալսարան, romanized: Gladzori hamalsaran) was a medieval Armenian university, one of the two "great centres of learning" along with the University of Tatev (c. 1340–1425) that were "essentially of a single tradition."[1][2] It was established around 1280 by Nerses of Mush,[2] a student of Vardan Areveltsi, and operated until 1340 and "left behind a rich intellectual heritage".[3]
The university grew out of the monastic center of learning of the Aghberts or Gladzor Monastery in the region of Vayots Dzor.[4] It flourished under the patronage of the Orbelian and Proshian noble families.[4][5] Gladzor had at least nine professors and around fifteen lecturers.[5] The university's longtime head was Esayi of Nich (Nchetsi), who led the university until 1331.[4] He was succeeded by the head teacher Tiratur.[4] The noted miniature painters Toros Taronatsi, Avag and Momik taught and painted at Gladzor.[4]
Gladzor had its own bylaws and granted academic degrees. Its three main courses were as follows: 1. Armenian and foreign texts, 2. the art of manuscript writing, and 3. Armenian musical notation (khaz) and music.[4] Among the subjects taught at the university were theology, mythology, philosophy, bibliology, grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, astronomy, chronology, and geometry.[4] Around 350 students graduated from Gladzor University.[4] The length of matriculation was seven to eight years, not counting the three years of religious education required to be admitted to the university.[4] Graduates received the rank of vardapet.[4] Although it was referred to as a university and sometimes analogized to contemporary European universities, scholar S. Peter Cowe suggests that Gladzor and other medieval Armenian academies were more comparable to monastic schools.[6]
