LAND AND CULTURE ORGANIZATION CONTINUES ITS MISSION IN ARMENIA

Armenian Reporter
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October 22, 2008
Armenia

Local volunteers in Syunik help restore monuments

Land and Culture organization volunteers cleaning up the Vorotnavank
monastic complex.

SISIAN, Armenia – Concerned about the progressive destruction of
historical Armenian monuments and sites throughout the world, a group
of young French Armenians founded the Land and Culture Organization
(LCO) in France in 1977. Realizing that Armenian architectural
monuments were defenseless against the ravages of time and people, the
LCO set out to help restore and preserve them. Soon after its creation,
the LCO opened branches in the United States and England. After the
devastating earthquake in Armenia in 1988, LCO started working in
Armenia and in 1994 officially registered a branch in the homeland.

The organization has organized summer programs which they call
campaigns, where volunteers from all over the world travel to locations
where Armenian ancestral sites can be found. They work in the area
of architectural preservation, land cultivation, and community
development. These summer campaigns serve as an opportunity for
Armenians to come together to discover their ancestral roots and expand
their cultural horizons. They also put their common ideals into action.

This past summer, the LCO organized its Faith and Heritage Youth
Campaign in Sisian and Goris in the Syunik region of Armenia. The
Youth Campaign had been the late Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian’s vision
and this year’s campaign was held in his memory.

During these LCO campaigns, young men and women travel to monasteries
and other national historic monuments to clean the surrounding areas of
the monument. They are joined by young volunteers from local villages
to bring the historic monument to a presentable state. This year’s
campaign included about 50 young volunteers from Yerevan and other
regions of the country who were then joined by volunteers from local
villages near the sites.

The Faith and Heritage Youth Campaign visited the 7th-century
St. Gregory the Illuminator Church in Sisian, including the
Karadaran, an open air repository of ancient khatchkars (stone
crosses), gravestones, and rock carvings where they conducted a
clean-up. They also worked on a 7th-century mausoleum in the village
of Aghitu. According to organizers, the site was completely cleared
of wild, overgrown weeds and vegetation. The group also spent time
at the Vorotnavank monastic complex, where they cleared the site of
garbage, filling large garbage bags with rubbish, and also cleared
away overgrown thorns and vegetation.

The volunteers also cleared the entire area surrounding the Shake
Hydroelectric station. The young people were amazed at the incredible
amount of garbage in the area but were able to secure promises from
local representatives that they would be disposed of properly.

These dedicated young volunteers also worked on the site of a monastic
complex from the Middle Ages in the steep ravine by the river Vorotan
before traveling to the city of Goris where they visited the local
church, the ancient caves of Goris, and the local museum of geology.

The Land and Culture Organization will continue to organize these youth
campaigns on a yearly basis ensuring the clean-up and maintenance of
national historical sites and at the same time giving young Armenians
the opportunity to take part in a worthwhile cause while discovering
their roots..?