A bronze statue of Armenian poet and publicist Hovhannes Tumanyan was installed yesterday in the balcony of Tumanyan scientific and cultural center in Tbilisi. The gift was made by a Georgian MP Dato Chichinadze on the occasion of the 150th birthday anniversary of the great Armenian poet.

The cultural center after Hovhannes Tumanyan is located on Amagleba street, 18 (former Davitashvili St.) in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Tumanyan lived in the house from 1904 to 1923. In 1952 the writer’s personal belongings were taken to Yerevan. 4 rooms out of 6 where turned into a library. The rest belonged to heirs. After Georgia’s independence, the City Hall of Tbilisi has transferred the ownership of the part of the library to a Georgian citizen.

In a critical condition, that part later had was acquired again at the initiative of Levon Ananyan, the former chairman of the Writers’ Union of Armenia thanks to the financial support provided by then Mayor of Gyumri, Vardan Ghukasyan. After the acquisition of the building by the Diocese, Jinishian Memorial and IDeA Foundation along with the Armenian Church initiated the full renovation and furnishing of the building.

Tumanyan is usually regarded in Armenian circles as "All-Armenian poet". Tumanyan wrote poems, quatrains, ballads, novels, fables, critical and journalistic articles. His work is simple, natural and poetically inspired at the same time. It is not by mere chance that dozens of phrases and expressions from Tumanyan's works have become a natural part of people's everyday language, their sayings, adages, and maxims.

Photos from the Facebook page of Armenia’s Embassy to Georgia and Arsen Kharatyan’s account