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YEREVAN, MARCH 16, ARMENPRESS. A two-day seminar titled “Historical-Cultural Heritage of Yerevan” kicked off today in the Matenadaran – the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts.
Director of the Historical-Cultural Heritage Research Center of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, Khachik Harutyunyan, said the seminar aims at separately touching upon the historical-cultural heritage of Yerevan. It involves all phases relating to the history of Yerevan, the earliest stage, the Middle Ages, the pre-Soviet and inter-Soviet periods.
“The experience shows that our citizens are still not so well aware of the city’s history, and this is a good occasion to once again touch upon the historical-cultural heritage of our beloved capital. There are many problems in the field, but for us it’s very important that citizens recognize our historical-cultural heritage. First of all, the problems are connected with not knowing that cultural layers. We sometimes, are, really, very dishonest to our monuments and then demand to preserve these monuments”, Khachik Harutyunyan said.
As for the issues relating to the demolition of historical-cultural buildings, he said there are special professional commissions examining all narrow professional matters.
“Our organization is also engaged in that professional council and we are trying to do everything possible to preserve the buildings of historical-cultural significance”, he said.
Head of the Department of Preservation of Historical and Cultural Monuments at the Ministry, Harutyun Vanyan, said the importance of this event is that for Armenia the historical-cultural heritage has the same significance like oil, gas and gold for other countries.
“For us it’s very important that our historical-cultural heritage is popularized as much as possible and also brings a tourism investment attraction which is also one of the government’s strategy plans. I would like to note that there is a draft on making change in the law on historical and cultural monuments and historical environment, which has been developed by the ministry of culture and submitted to the government, and it involves a number of important reforms”, Harutyun Vanyan said.
Today’s workshop aims to inventory Yerevan’s historical-cultural heritage and organize a more comprehensive international conference in the future.