BUILDING OF OLD PRINTING HOUSE IN SHUSHI WILL BE PULLED DOWN

KarabakhOpen
15-05-2008 11:09:58

Although the liberation of Shushi is marked on May 9, the operation
nevertheless took part on May 8. Therefore, May 8, 1992 is a very
important day.

May 8, 2008 will be marked as the day of demolition of the building
of the old printing house due to the connivance of the local
authorities. The printing house was built in 1825 by a clergyman
Jalalyan. In the 19th century a number of books and newspapers were
published there which made Shushi a regional center of publishing
after Tbilisi.

In 2005-2006 the building was provided to one of the local
organizations to renovate it to accommodate the museum of history
of Shushi. Last year the area was to be cleaned and prepared for
reconstruction – enforcement of walls, reconstruction of the building
the main walls of which were whole.

In March they suddenly started demolishing the rear part of the
building.

Destruction stopped when the director of the museum Ashot Harutiunyan
turned to the Department for Preservation of Monuments.

The building was studied and the project was changed to comply with
seismic regulations but to preserve the appearance. The stones were
enumerated and everything was prepared for restoration.

On these days the building was surrounded with a "fence". They said
the stones of the building should be removed from the top, which may
fall down, and the facade will be changed only with plastic windows.

On May 8 work began. First it became clear that none of the
workers is a specialist of restoration, which requires skills and
carefulness. Besides, it is not "restoration" if the stones are broken
off with crowbars.

The representative of the town hall explained to the director of the
museum that the work complies with the regulations.

On the day of liberation of Shushi with the connivance of the local
authorities and overall indifference one of the historical buildings
of the town was pulled down. And only for making the building "to
comply with seismic regulations". Is it restoration when they crash
stones with crossbars and drop from a height of 4 meters?

In the morning of May 12 the workers counted the stones which did
not break after falling from such a height.

Armen de Shushi

P.S. During the celebration of May 9 in Shushi Armen de Shushi who
has come to live in Shushi from Paris told the president of Armenia
Serge Sargsyan about the breaches. The Armenian president asked about
the stance of the local authorities and after hearing the answer said
everything is clear.