A virtual pilgrimage to the Dzidzernagapert Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex took place Friday, with Armenians from all over the world taking part in the innovative event by texting their names to a specified number, and seeing them displayed on the columns of the monument.
Armenia’s Office of the High Commissioner of Diaspora Affairs announced the initiative on Thursday, and urged Armenians from around the world to participate.
Public Radio of Armenia reported Friday that 653,797 names were projected on the columns, during a special special virtual concert that was scheduled to last until dawn.
Armenia officially kicked off the 105th anniversary commemorative events at 11 p.m. local time on April 23 when church bells across Armenia tolled for three continuous minutes, and street lights were turned off in Yerevan and other regions. Raphael Patkanian’s famed song, “Come My Nightingale” (Ari im sokhak) played across the country as Armenians directed their collective gaze to the Dzidzernagapert memorial hill, from where a purple light shot up to illuminate the night sky in the nationwide—and collective—commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.