ARF HISTORY MUSEUM IN HOMELAND
By Naira Poghosian

Yerkir.am
July 13, 2007

The first exposition of the ARF History Museum opened in ARF Bureau
headquarters in Yerevan on July 6. It was dedicated to the First
Republic.

Expositions about Armenian First Republic prime ministers and prominent
figures Hamo Ohanjanian, Simon Vratsian, Dro, Levon Shant and others
as well as ARF press materials published in 1918-20 are on display.

The return of the ARF Museum from Paris to Armenia is an important
event after the ARF itself returned to Armenia. The idea to establish
a museum appeared 25 years after the ARF’s foundation.

"The ARF History Museum has been brought from Paris to Armenia,"
ARF Bureau member Albert Achemian said in his opening remarks. "A
decision to establish an ARF museum was taken in Geneva in 1915. Then,
there were only three things to show: and album for open letters,
Christaphor’s briefcase and a rug from Vaspurakan. We recall the ARF
Museum established in 1940’s in Paris."

Beginning that year, in many regions of the world, materials connected
with the ARF were collected and preserved. But the collection was
put on display only after the WWII first in two small bui8ldings in
Paris, then, beginning from 1955, on the third floor of a culture
house owned by the ARF.

Over 50 years, this museum has served as a place where the Armenian
youth was brought up in a patriotic sprit, and many people living
temporarily in Paris, have visited it.

After the ARF headquarters was established in Armenia, the 29th
General Congress of the ARF, passed a decision to bring the museum
to Armenia from Paris. A management was appointed and the list of
more than 3,000 samples were listed using computers.

"This small portion of the museum, representing materials about the
establishment of the first independent Armenian state after hundreds
of years, is the proof of the rich collection that has been collected
for years, sometimes unprofessionally.

Some day, it will be displayed in full for the Armenia public. We
are sure that the museum standing now on the soil of the homeland
will attract like a magnet all the materials kept around the world,"
Achemian said. He invited ARF Bureau representative Hrant Margarian
and benefactor Zohrap Tagian to open the museum.

"Our goal is to make this museum a scientific, educational and cultural
center open for those who carry out studies. There are exposits that
will be complemented over time. This exposition for the named period
show the great role of the ARF in the Armenian peoples’ life," Anush
Amseyan, the museum’s director, said.