ArmInfo.Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Armenia Ms. Anne Louyot and Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Armenia Vahram Dumanyan signed a memorandum on the official launch of a large program aimed at preserving the cultural heritage of Armenia, developing the potential of specialists in this field, as well as implementing and development of "Armenia.
Exploring, preserving and enhancing heritage" museum project. Minister Dumanyan noted that cultural heritage is a priority for the Armenian government, especially after the 44-day Artsakh war, when Azerbaijan launched a policy of cultural genocide, which created challenges for the preservation of Armenia's cultural heritage outside the country.
Noting that the Armenian-French agenda is expanding from year to year, Doumanyan expressed hope that the program will be long-lasting. "I hope this project will contribute to the development of effective Armenian-French cooperation, creating new opportunities for the implementation of new programs," he said.
According to Ms. Louyot, the program includes 3 components that cover various areas of cultural heritage and rely on the skills and leading experience of French and Armenian specialists. In particular, within the framework of the first component, it is planned to strengthen and develop the skills of Armenian specialists in the restoration and preservation of cultural heritage through retraining at the National Heritage Institute of France in cooperation with the Scientific research center of the historical and cultural heritage. In this regard, the director of the Institute, Charles Personnaz , emphasized that the institution was involved in the process of developing a retraining program from the very beginning. In addition, he noted that the program also provides an opportunity to exchange specialists. In this regard, Personnaz remarked: "We also have something to learn from Armenian specialists."
He also stressed that Armenia and France are countries with an exceptional heritage, including architectural style. "Our task is to make cooperation long-term in order to increase the value of the existing heritage for the whole world," he said.
The second component of the program, as noted, concerns the restoration of the monastery complex of "Tatevi Mets Anapat ". At the first stage of the project, it is planned to conduct a historical and architectural study of the monuments, and before the actual restoration, to organize the first volunteer labor camp together with "Rempart" and the Terre et Culture association (). The second component is also implemented by the French National Heritage Institute in collaboration with the Scientific research center of the historical and cultural heritage. The program is still at the development stage. At the moment, a work schedule is being drawn up.
The third component is related to the reorganization and modernization of the Erebuni Museum's permanent exhibition in order to increase the value of the latter. It is noteworthy that the project will be implemented jointly with the world's leading museum - the Louvre. This is the first project in Armenia in which a museum of this level has been involved. Head of the Oriental Antiquities Department of the Louvre Museum , Ariane Thomas, noted: "It is a great honor for me to participate in the program to develop a new concept for such an important museum for Armenia as Erebuni. And we will be happy to participate in the revival of the museum>.
In turn director of the Erebuni Museum Mikayel Badalyan said that practically since 1983 the exposition of the museum has not been updated. He called the support of the Louvre invaluable, noting in this regard that there is a limited number of specialists in Armenia involved in holding exhibitions in museums.
The total cost of the project is 600 thousand euros. According to the signed memorandum, the project will start in July this year and end in December 2023.
The project was developed by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia in cooperation with the National Heritage Institute of France, the Louvre Museum, the Scientific research center of the historical and cultural heritage and the Erebuni Museum.