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    Emil Lazarian
  • 3 years ago
    • Categories: 2021

Aram Manoukian’s Bust Unveiled in Yerevan’s ARF Youth Center

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Sculptor Hagop Janbazian and ARF Bureau member Arsen Hambardzumyan at the unveiling of Aram Manoukian’s bust

YEREVAN—The bronze bust of Aram Manoukian, one of the founders of the Republic of Armenia, was unveiled today at the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Aram Manoukian Youth Center of Yerevan. The sculpture, which is the work of Canadian-Armenian artist and community activist, Hagop Janbazian, was placed in the lobby of the Aram Manoukian Center, through which hundreds of youths enter every day. 

“Were it not for Aram Manoukian and his contemporaries, we would not have the First Republic, we would not have Soviet Armenia, and we would not have today’s independent republic,” ARF Bureau member Arsen Hambardzumyan said in his remarks. 

Scenes from the unveiling of Aram Manoukian’s bronze bust, sculpted by Hagop Janbazian

In his address, sculptor Hagop Janbazian thanked the ARF Bureau for the opportunity and highlighted the importance of honoring Manoukian’s legacy. “The young people who enter this building will bow not in front of this bust, which is, after all just a bronze statue, but in front of Aram’s everlasting memory. They have inherited his eternal torch and will continue to carry on his legacy,” Janbazian said. 

In his remarks, art critic Movses Hergelian (Tsirani), called Manoukian the ‘hero of the heroes’ because he was able to unite the nation. Commenting on the artwork, Tsirani said: “By looking into this statue’s eyes, it is evident that Janbazian has captured the moment when Manoukian commands us to be united and, at the same time, obliges us to be committed to his message. We are accountable to him because he established Armenian statehood. Without Aram Manoukian, there would be no Armenian state.”

Janbazian’s bust of Aram Manoukian is also displayed at the Sardarapat Memorial complex’ Sardarapat Ethnography and Liberation Movement History Museum. Janbazian is the author of several monuments, sculptures, and other pieces of art in Armenia and across the world, especially in Armenian communities throughout the Diaspora.

Emil Lazarian: “I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS