BOSTON ARMENIAN HERITAGE PARK TO BE COMPLETED BY FALL 2010

Asbarez
ston-armenian-heritage-park-to-be-completed-by-fal l-2010/
Aug 24, 2009

BOSTON, Mass.-The Armenian Heritage Park on the Rose Fitzgerald
Kennedy Greenway is slated to be completed by the fall of 2010,
reported Armenian Heritage Foundation president James M. Kalustian
at a recent Board meeting.

"We are making extraordinary progress," he said. "As of July 2009,
50 percent of the construction and engineering documents have been
completed by the design team. The plans are presently being reviewed
by the various state and city agencies."

The Armenian Heritage Foundation’s Board of Directors is comprised
of representatives from the 37 parishes and organizations within the
Armenian American community in Massachusetts. Serving as honorary
chairs are Massachusetts State Representative Peter Koutoujian and
Massachusetts State Registrar of Motor Vehicles Rachel Kaprielian.

A gift to the City of Boston and recognized as one of the better
designed parks, the Armenian Heritage Park is consistent with one of
the themes of the Greenway: to acknowledge the history of Boston as a
port of entry for immigrants worldwide, for those who have migrated
to our shores and contributed to the richness of American life and
culture.

The park, situated on four-tenths of an acre on parcel 13 of the
Greenway, will serve as a link between the Faneuil Hall Marketplace and
Christopher Columbus Park. It has received overwhelming support from
neighboring community groups in Boston’s North End and Wharf District,
as well as many of Boston’s civic, community, and political leaders.

The park includes lawns, benches, fountains, shade trees, as well
as two key features, a labyrinth and sculpture, both to engage and
delight children and adults. The labyrinth, a circular winding path
in grass and inlaid stone with a single jet of water at its center,
is symbolic of life’s journey and in celebration of achievements
in art, science, commerce, and service. The sculpture, a 12-sided
abstract geometric sculpture-a split rhombic dodecahedron-rests on
a 16-foot diameter reflecting pool to commemorate the lives lost in
the Armenian Genocide and in all genocides that have followed, and
to celebrate those who left their country of origin and reconfigured
their lives in the United States. The waters of the reflecting pool
wash over its sides commemorating the lives lost and re-emerges as the
single jet of water at the labyrinth’s center, representing hope and
rebirth. The sculpture will be reconfigured every year with endlessly
changing views.

"The ancient pattern of the labyrinth has crossed time, cultures, and
religions throughout history, and has become a universal metaphor of
peace, harmony, contemplation, and healing," said Rev. Kathleen Musser
of the Labyrinth Guild of New England. "[It is] an imaginative and
creative device for people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds
to engage one another… The labyrinth invites all expressions of
faith and culture and ethnicity to walk the path of diverse community
together. It quite literally circumscribes common ground for all to
walk! The lessons are deep, but very obvious with every step we take:
We are all on this path together.

We may not walk at the same pace, and often we may feel like we are
going in different directions, sometimes in step with each other,
sometimes alone. But ultimately all of us are on the same path, and
that path offers us all opportunities for reconciliation, wholeness,
and hope."

An endowed lecture on human rights, in collaboration with the Bostonian
Society, will be held annually at Faneuil Hall and will feature
internationally recognized scholars and leaders. Endowed funds are
also being established to support the care and maintenance of the park
in perpetuity as well as the annual reconfiguration of the sculpture.

For more information, visit