LATTER-DAY BARBARIANS: LATEST VANDALISM CASES RAISE MORE CONCERNS ABOUT STATE OF MONUMENT PROTECTION IN ARMENIA

ARTS AND CULTURE | 13.03.15 | 10:15

Alina Nikoghosyan
ArmeniaNow intern

Desecration of monuments in various places in Armenia has become
a serious concern lately. Many think it is the result of bad
surveillance, and sculptors refrain from creating and placing new
works for fear that they will also have the destiny of the desecrated
monuments.

Recently photographer German Avagyan posted on his Facebook account
pictures of “Ardzaganq”, a bronze monument placed in 1980 on
the Yerevan-Sevan highway; the latter has been severely damaged,
which provided another occasion for the public to discuss issues
of vandalism.

“You say Islamists are making a mess in Iraqi museums. These are,
probably, our Islamists,” Avagyan wrote.

The Armenian Ministry of Culture told ArmeniaNow that even though the
above-mentioned monument is not considered a historical-cultural value,
however they condemn the vandalism and also try to contribute somehow.

“In such cases, when monuments are damaged or desecrated, it is
the community leader’s responsibility, however, we have prepared
a corresponding notice to the prosecutor of the province, with a
request to solve this crime and ensure that the damage is repaired,”
Ministry of Culture official Armen Abroyan told ArmeniaNow.

As for the conversation of monuments in Yerevan, Abroyan said that
they are cooperating with the city authorities on the matter.

There have been quite a few monuments in Yerevan that have also
been vandalized. The latest incident happened to the copper statue
located in front of the VTB-Armenia bank, the video of which went
viral on the Internet. In the video young men vandalize the statue,
but it still remains unclear whether anyone has been punished for it.

Sculptor Nune Tumanyan told ArmeniaNow that there are many desecrated
statues in Armenia and nobody bears responsibility for that.

“Why can we guard cars and not statues, if it came to the point when
people do not realize that they should not touch statues? Maybe someone
must be punished so that others should refrain from taking the same
path,” the sculptor, who is also a member of the Artists Union, said.

Sculptors say that unless there is serious surveillance they will
not stop worrying about their works and will not create and place
new monuments.

“There is a great desire to place new statues in the city. But how
can we do that when you can see that they are not preserved?” she said.

And sculptor Gagik Ghazaryan thinks that there is little love for art
in Armenia and the deeper reason for the vandalism against monuments
is that children are not properly taught to love and appreciate art
from early on.

“Everyone starting from children till grown-ups must acknowledge
culture, they should not touch sculptures, churches and buildings. We
praise ourselves for being a nation with ancient culture, but it
turns out that we have a barbarian attitude and we destroy our nation
ourselves,” he said, adding that there are many problems in that field.

In most cases monuments and statues in Armenia are vandalized because
of previous metals used in them.