ONE SAVES 500 DRAMS BY NOT GOING TO MUSEUM

Panorama.am
14:41 28/08/2007

People’s Art Museum of Armenia has been renovated for the first
time ever after its establishment two years ago by the support of
Linsi Foundation. "It will be wrong to blame the state for improper
conditions of museums in Armenia but we must not hide that the
state has its role in the functioning of the museums and in their
preservation," Ada Manukyan, deputy director of the People’s Art
Museum, said.

The museum management raised another concerning issue which they say
is no less important. The museum has shortage of visitors. The museum
deputy director says: "It is a pity that our society does not have time
and even willingness to visit museums today. If not the foreigners,
museums would stay without visitors."

Concurrently, Manukyan beleives the modern computer technologies hinder
the young people to come in touch with the spiritual art. She also
beleives that the problem does not limit to that – our co-citizens are
not interested in our cultural values. However, she sees the answer
at a different place. "I beleive that it would be wrong to say that
our nation does not love or value culture, simply, they must pay for
visiting museums and may be that is one of the reasons. We had a lot
of visitors when the museums were free, didn’t we" Ms. Manukyan raises
her concern.

One must also say that the entrance fee at the People’s Art Museum
of Armenia is 500 Armenian drams (about $1.4).