Expert: Some people in Armenia use valuable cultural monuments in Armenia as dumps

• Wednesday, August 1, 14:48

There are nearly 25,000 registered monuments of culture in Armenia. Some of those monuments were created in the 21st century, Samvel Karapetyan, Head of the Research on Armenian Architecture (RAA) NGO, told ArmInfo.

However, he said, Armenians do not appreciate their rich cultural heritage. "To take a photo of a monument, it will take you at least two hours to clean the area of the monument. Every time when a group of experts express a desire to research the cultural monuments in the country we are reluctant to clear the area of the particular monument. After the research, we are sure that some ignorant people will again dump waste there," the expert said.

Tourists visiting Armenia are very surprised at such uncultured attitude to the monuments.  In addition, the expert said that Armenians are not informed of the history of their monuments, even of the most famous ones. On sidelines of SOS Culture - FPWC's first project funded by EU and implemented by the Armenian Fund for Protection of Nature and Cultural Values jointly with Institute for International Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association
and Architecture Armenian NGO research work has been carried out lately in Lori region (town of Alaverdi, villages of Akhtala, Berdavanq and others). He said that the research involved also young people to raise the youth awareness of the history and peculiarities of the Armenian cultural monuments.

The expert is sure that involvement of the youth in similar projects will bring desirable results reducing vandalism to monuments of culture and history.  "The project will help reducing also migration, for it is not so easy to leave the motherland for one who knows its history," Karapetyan said.

SOS Culture - FPWC's first project funded by EU started in 2012. The project which has a cross-border approach will last 24 months and is funded by the European Union. The overall objective of the project is to register and preserve endangered cultural assets in remote border regions of Armenia and Georgia. The main target group of SOS Culture is local youths aged 14 - 21who will be involved in the project activities in particular in the practical investigation and preservation of cultural assets.