TREES GROWING ON DOME OF SANAHIN MONASTERY HAVE ALREADY AROUSED CONCERN OF EVERYONE EXCEPT:SUPREME PATRIARCH

arminfo
Saturday, July 16, 11:40

The ancient monastery complex Sanahin in the north of Armenia has
recently appeared in the focus of public attention. This unique
monument of the Armenian culture and architecture, which is included
in UNESCO Heritage Fund, is in an extremely poor state. The trees
growing on the dome of Sanahin Monastery cannot but arouse concern
of the public. In fact, today on July 16 a youth initiative group “We
will not be silent” organizes a trip to the monastery for journalists
for further wide coverage of the problem.

Earlier in an interview with ArmInfo, Director of the Research on
Armenian Architecture (RAA) NGO, historian Samvel Karapetyan said:
“During my latest meeting with Catholicos Karekin II, I once again
studied the problem of Sanahin Monastery and reminded him of the
fact that a forest has already grown on the roof of this historical
monument. We offered Karekin II to direct at least part of the funds
allocated for construction of new churches to the settlement of this
problem. In response, he only said that he has nothing to do with the
monasteries and churches located in the mountains”, said Karapetyan.

“However, I’d like to recall that the Church should have cared first
of all for the cultic constructions. Needless to say about the state
structures, which should be interested in removing the forests from the
roofs of churches”, he said and added that when he says that Armenians
are not a nation respecting their cultural and historical heritage
of their ancestors, this concerns everybody, even the Catholicos.

Sanahin is a medieval monastery located not far from the town of
Alaverdi. It was one of the main medieval cultural centers of North
Armenia. Sanahin had a scriptorium, a library and an academy.