2006 YEAR TO BE MARKED IN FRANCE UNDER SLOGAN “MY FRIEND ARMENIA”
YEREVAN, JUNE 2. ARMINFO. The decision to hold Year of Armenia
in France is very important as it was passed by the presidents,
Armenia’s Ambassador to France Eduard Nalbandyan says in an interview
to Armenia’s Public TV.
The festivities will be held in both France and Armenia with
the first ones starting in Sept 2006. The program includes a gala
concert at Republic Square and an exhibition of Louvre’s collection
in Yerevan. Charles Aznavour will come to Armenia again. Then the
festivities will move to Paris and other French cities. Louvre will
host an Armenian exhibition of the pre-Christian and Christian periods,
Georges Pompidu Center an exhibition of Archil Gorky. Different French
galleries will exhibit works by Aivazovsky, Saryan, Kochar.
The slogan of the year will be “My Friend Armenia.”
Nalbandian says that Armenian-French friendship is centuries
old. Luis XIV send his men around the world to search for Armenian
manuscripts. That’s why the French National Library has a big
collection of Armenian manuscripts. In XIX Napoleon ordered to open
an Armenian language department in French University. Many Armenian
painters, composers, singers, directors and writers lived and worked
in France.