TALKING ART OF YEREVAN
Azg/arm
16 March 05
“I think all the monuments of Yerevan need to be
renovated. Specialistsâ=80=99 groups should be created for that. They
will study the monuments and definethe ways of their renovation. We
shouldn’t waste time, otherwise, one beautiful day the monument to
Martiros Sarian created by Tokmajian will be colored, while the horse
of Kochar’s Vartan Mamikonian will become a zebra,” Mekhak Izmirian,
head of the Yerevan History Museum, said. He has been studying the
monuments of Yerevan and accumulate information about a thousand of
“blossomed” stones.
“Almost all the monuments in our city are covered with dust of the
years, paint, droppings of the birds, cracks that appeared after the
snow, the rain, the sun and the wind. The vandals have spoiled many of
the monuments covering them with nasty inscriptions. Especially when
the spring comes, the children or even the youth are sitting on the
big monuments,” Mekhak Izmirian said and added that such phenomenon is
caused by the lack of culture and awareness. “Maybe many of them
wouldn’t destroy the monuments if they knew to whom orto which event
the monument is dedicated to. I think the best way out is to make name
boards and place it beside the monuments. This will not coast much,”
Izmirian said.
He told that sometimes the pupils or even the teachers do not know
whose monument is set up in the yard of the school. Meanwhile, there
are rather interesting monuments in the yards of the schools.
Izmirian told also about the forgotten monuments, columns and
monuments-springs. The latter can be set in each yard, we can fail to
notice them due to our indifference. It is interesting but such
fountains are registered anywhere. The Yerevan History Museum is
going to publish books on the monuments of Yerevan to secure the
awareness of the people about their own city.
Izmirian also brought the example of the arts of father and son
Bejanians. If the father Hovhannes Bejanian created the monument of
the water selling boy and each resident of Yerevan is proud of that,
Bejanian junior created the monument to Arno Babajanian. The monuments
are so different.
By Susana Margarian