ArmenPress
June 25 2004
CONSTRUCTION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MUSEUM AND MEMORIAL IN WASHINGTON
REQUIRES BIG MONEY
YEREVAN, JUNE 25, ARMENPRESS: Armenian ambassador to the USA,
Arman Kirakosian, said today that the repair of a building in
downtown Washington, purchased by the Armenian Assembly of America to
rebuild it into the Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial to detail
the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians by the Turkish government from
1915-23, may take years, “as the project requires huge financial
support.”
According to Rouben Adalian, director of the Armenian National
Institute in D.C. ,a research organization created by the Armenian
Assembly of America, the museum project likely will cost about $100
million. Two years ago, the Armenian Assembly of America bought the
30,000-square-foot National Bank of Washington building at 14th and G
streets NW for $7.25 million to house the museum.
The Museum and Memorial will have 90,000 square feet of space,
consisting of approximately 60,000 square feet of newly constructed
space, and 32,000 square feet in the historical former National Bank
of Washington building. The museum and memorial will combine the
power of architecture, art and contemporary technologies with
artifacts, archival texts and photographs to communicate the
historical experience of the Armenian people, the trauma and legacy
of the Armenian genocide, and the role of American and international
philanthropy in rescuing the survivors.