Armenian culture minister supports the idea of holding public hearings
on open-air hall of ‘Moskva’ Cinema

2010-04-17 17:41:00

ArmInfo. Armenian Culture Minister Hasmik Poghosyan supports the idea
of holding public hearings on the problem of the open-air hall of
"Moskva" Cinema.

"In the current situation, when the society takes this problem very
much to heart, the most correct decision is to hear all parties’
opinions. It is not ruled out that the parties will manage to come to
a single solution",- she said to ArmInfo correspondent.

To recall, in accordance with the governmental decision dated 25 Feb
2010, the territory of the open-air hall of "Moskva" Cinema will be
provided to the Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin for construction of a
church, which will resemble the Sourb Poghos-Petros (St.Paul-Peter)
Church destroyed over the Soviet times. The given decision has caused
a wide public response. In particular, over 23 thsd people signed an
open letter addressed to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, thereby
appealing to the president to cancel the governmental decision. The
letter says that the open-air hall was excluded from the list of the
monuments protected by the state with obvious violation of the law and
without preliminary consultation with specialists. In addition, the
cultural organization "Hayas" (Australia) has initiated collection of
signatures under a petition with a similar content. The internet
community has also expressed its opinion – over 6 thsd users of the
popular Facebook social network have come out against construction of
a church in the place of the open-air hall of "Moskva" Cinema.