The Family

Sarvarians at early 1950's.
Sarvarians at early 1950's.
A family pick nick at Tehran's outskirts
A family pick nick at Tehran's outskirts

Our Origins

The Sarvarians are an Armenian family, whose origins are traced back to Tehran, Iran as early as mid 1800's. The family tree begins with Karapet - (aka Mgrdich) Sarvarian about whom not much information is yet available. His son Theodorus (Tatevos - Թաթևոս in Armenian) is buried at the cemetery of the Armenian church at Tehran's Vanak neighborhood with "Mirza Tatavos Sarvarian" engraved on his thumb stone. Tatavos' son, Mgrdich (Մկրտիչ - Mkrdich) was a merchant, travelling across southern Caucasus region from Tehran to Tabriz, Tbilisi, Alexandropol (Present Gyumri) and other towns and cities that were distributed in between Persian, Russian and Ottoman empires for business. Beside trade he was also interested in art and culture which turned him into a part-time actor in a theater group in Tehran, where he first met his future wife Markarit (Margret) Haroutunian.

Age of Margret

Margaret (Markarit - Մարքարիտ) was born in 1885 in Tbilisi, Georgia to Armenian parents. After finishing her higher education in Child Development in 1901, she was invited to Tabriz in north of Persia by the Haykazian institute, an Armenian educational center at 1905 from which point on, her lasting impact on education and culture of the Iranian and Armenian communities begin.

After marriage Mkrdich and Margret begin their new life in Tehran, where their four children Napoleon, Mushegh, Sonia and Sasha were born in between years 1908 to 1914. These years coincide with Margret establishing her own child care facility, the first modern kindergarten in Tehran, where she practices and implements her specialized methods of child development to toddlers and children of Armenian and Iranian families. This center is eventually developed to become the "Margaret Sarvarian Educational Foundation" with hundreds of students, many of whom later spread across the world with their earliest memories shaped with Markarit's teachings.

Beside child development and education, Markarit was an avid reader and experimental writer who would use her knowledge of languages to translate several books and articles.  In addition starting 1935, and with the help of her children, Margaret begins the publishing of one of the early children papers of Tehran known as "Nor Hasker" (Նոր Հասկեր - English: New Crops) A biweekly for children and teenagers in Armenian.

Our Story

The establishment of Sarvarian school is the cornerstone of the family's strong cultural base and its Armenian roots. Throughout the years Markarit's children and grandchildren grow to become significant players of their respective communities' sociocultural life and even to this day, they continue to pass on the tradition to the next generations. Beside fully dedicating themselves to the mission of their mother, each of Markarit's children also excelled at their own respective fields, extending the Sarvarian legacy into new boundaries.

It is the past, that shapes the future, naturally, those with strong roots are capable of maintaining their identity and culture throughout time. This website is made to bring together all the efforts and contributions that Markarit and her decedents have made in their life time so the future generations can learn about their origins while finding inspiration and meaning in their own lives. This website is also conceptualized to be an online resource for all researchers of history and culture, a platform to post family updates and milestone events.

Our goal is to enhance and update this page as much as we can, so if you are a Sarvarian descendant, a family friend, a former student, a colleague, a disciple or an informed individual please do get in touch with us through contact page and share your information.

Sarvarians in Early 30's

Notable Sarvarians

Our plan is to publish names and biographies of all the members of Sarvarian and extended family members who have been making an impact in the social lives of their communities, but until then here are some of those amazing people.

Sonia Sarvarian

Sonia Sarvarian/Balassanian

Boostan School Principal 

Markarid Sarvarian's daughter who was in charge of Boostan school since 1942 and mother to Edward and Zareh Balassanians.

Leonid Sarvarian

Leonid Sarvarian

Sarvarian School Principal/Poet

Markarid Sarvarian's grandson who beside being a principal and a beloved teacher has published several literary works and poems,

Mushegh Sarvarian

Mushegh Sarvarian

Filmmaker/Art Director

Markarid Sarvarian's first son who beside being one of the founding fathers of art of graphic design in Iran was the director and decorator of several Iranian movies.

Why a page on the Internet?

Sarvarian family is now spread across the globe in three continents. In addition there has always been interest by scholars, researchers, historians, old students as well as friends and family for information about the family's past, their works and current status. As a result having an online base to store this information while keeping up with family news seemed like a good idea.

We obviously care about privacy and quality so we try to post the kind of information that is not too personal or trivial. This being said we will appreciate if you get in touch with us before using the material or at least do mention the source when reposting or reblogging our content.

As decedents of one of the first graphic designers of Iran we care about the layout and design elements of this page and following the steps of Markarit, Mushegh and Leonid, we also like writing with style, therefore we thought having things up on a website would be much more official than just launching a social media page. This being said we will consider some of the social platforms as a sharing option in future.

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Whats Next?

We are in the process of building this website where much more information, material, news and updates will be posted about Sarvarians and our extended family. Please keep visiting us often and share your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by.