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Artists To Form "Human Shield" To Keep Murals
Yeranuhi Soghoyan
hetq
22:35, May 2, 2011
A group of Gyumri artists have come out to question the government's
decision to hand over two murals by the noted artists Minas Avetisyan
to the Armenia International Airlines Company on condition that they
be restored and installed at the Erebuni Airport in Yerevan.
They say they will picket in front of the Gyumri factories where the
murals are located to prevent a group from Yerevan arriving on May
4 from removing the art works and taking them back to the capital.
"Who said that relocating Minas' murals to the airport is the best
decision possible?" asked the angry group of artists at a roundtable
discussion today in Yerevan.
The murals in question had been commissioned back in the 1970s by
the directors of a nuber of factories in town once called Leninakan.
During the collapse of the Soviet Union, these factories were abandoned
and the murals suffered as a result.
In 1990, the Leninakan City Soviet called in a group of Bulgarian
experts to restore one of the murals. It was then installed in the
Gyumri V. Ajemyan State Dramtic Theater.
In 2010, the Armenian government restored the two murals with funds
from the national budget and had them transferred to the Government
Building in Yerevan.
"We should have opposed the move back then," said Garik Manukyan,
President of the Gyumri branch of the Painters' Union of Armenia.
"They should have been restored and kept in Gyumri. What average
citizen has the chance to go to the Government Building and look up
in amazement at Minas' murals?"
Artashes Karapetyan, Director of the Gyumri Municipality's Department
of Culture and Youth Affairs, noted that in Europe such art treasures
are maintained in secondary cities specifically so that tourists go
and visit them.
"I am talking about the development of the Marzes. But, they are taking
everything to Yerevan. We won't let them," declared Mr. Karapetyan.
From: A. Papazian
Yeranuhi Soghoyan
hetq
22:35, May 2, 2011
A group of Gyumri artists have come out to question the government's
decision to hand over two murals by the noted artists Minas Avetisyan
to the Armenia International Airlines Company on condition that they
be restored and installed at the Erebuni Airport in Yerevan.
They say they will picket in front of the Gyumri factories where the
murals are located to prevent a group from Yerevan arriving on May
4 from removing the art works and taking them back to the capital.
"Who said that relocating Minas' murals to the airport is the best
decision possible?" asked the angry group of artists at a roundtable
discussion today in Yerevan.
The murals in question had been commissioned back in the 1970s by
the directors of a nuber of factories in town once called Leninakan.
During the collapse of the Soviet Union, these factories were abandoned
and the murals suffered as a result.
In 1990, the Leninakan City Soviet called in a group of Bulgarian
experts to restore one of the murals. It was then installed in the
Gyumri V. Ajemyan State Dramtic Theater.
In 2010, the Armenian government restored the two murals with funds
from the national budget and had them transferred to the Government
Building in Yerevan.
"We should have opposed the move back then," said Garik Manukyan,
President of the Gyumri branch of the Painters' Union of Armenia.
"They should have been restored and kept in Gyumri. What average
citizen has the chance to go to the Government Building and look up
in amazement at Minas' murals?"
Artashes Karapetyan, Director of the Gyumri Municipality's Department
of Culture and Youth Affairs, noted that in Europe such art treasures
are maintained in secondary cities specifically so that tourists go
and visit them.
"I am talking about the development of the Marzes. But, they are taking
everything to Yerevan. We won't let them," declared Mr. Karapetyan.
From: A. Papazian