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MONUMENTAL PLAN: PUBLIC COUNCIL SUBCOMMITTEE BACKS IDEA TO BUILD NOAH'S ARK REPLICA
By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow
28.02.12 | 10:39
The subcommittee on culture at the Public Council, a presidential
advisory body, has approved of an ambitious initiative to build an
exact replica of Noah's Ark, using biblical dimensions, in Yerevan.
Plans for such an installment on the hilltop of Victory Park have
drawn mostly positive responses so far, but the project is still at
the stage of discussion.
The initiative group for the Noah's Ark complex was set up two years
ago and has been supported by a number of local scholars, public
and political figures, businessmen as well as some 150 scholars from
outside Armenia (among the backers are popular actor Sos Sargsyan,
well-known poet Aramayis Sahakyan, people's painter Levon Tokmajyan,
and others). The authors of the project and its backers give
assurances that if built, the massive structure will also serve as
a scientific-educational and historical-cultural center besides its
apparent main purpose of being a tourist attraction.
The project that has an estimated cost of $20 million (the investors
are the Armare company president and the director of the Fun Time Ltd.
operating in the amusement park) had been submitted to the Yerevan
Municipality, the Ministry of Culture, the prime minister and the
president.
Martun Harutyunyan, the author and implementer of the project, who
is also director of the Arts Enterprise Ltd. and president of the
Armare company, says the chief architect at the Yerevan Municipality
submitted the project to the Public Council's subcommittee for culture,
which gave a positive conclusion. "Now it is being considered at the
Public Council's urban planning subcommittee," he adds.
The structure of gigantic proportions (132 meters long, 22 meters wide
and 13 meters tall) is expected to be installed with its front facing
Mount Ararat (where biblical Noah's Ark came to rest after the great
flood), at a high point in Victory Park, which, as the authors of the
project say, is an area where "there are no trees or other greenery".
"We present the project, the area where corresponding specialists are
to carry out examinations, and if they find if appropriate, then the
decision on the allotment of land will be made. Now we are waiting
for this decision," says Toros Umrikyan, one of the authors of the
project who heads the Fun Time Ltd. at the amusement park. He adds
that as initiators they are also interested in the public opinion,
as well as in the views, proposals and observations of specialists.
The first floor of the four-storey construction (which would cover an
area of 10,000 square meters) would include eight statues of people
and 120 statues of animals, universal relics, utensils. A cinema, a
conference hall, office rooms would be housed on the second floor. The
third floor would have 40 guest rooms for tourists, while the fourth
floor would have a hall for government and state receptions as well
as rooms.
Special telescopes would be installed in the upper part of the Ark,
which will offer a unique opportunity to see Mount Ararat very close.
Member of the Noah's Ark replica construction group, Chairman of the
Painters' Union of Armenia Karen Aghamyan says such an opportunity
should not be missed.
"The concept of Noah's Ark is accepted universally and it enables
us to have a foothold in Armenia that will generate interest towards
our country, as it will show that Noah had come down here and mankind
continued its development right from here," says Aghamyan.
Another project enthusiast, writer Meruzhan Ter-Gulanyan, thinks that
"Noah's Ark is an idea of God's chosen people."
"Noah's Ark is a letter that God had sent us and till today we haven't
opened the envelope. We should realize this and taken upon ourselves
with dignity the task of building an ark as God's chosen people,"
says Ter-Gulanyan.
By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow
28.02.12 | 10:39
The subcommittee on culture at the Public Council, a presidential
advisory body, has approved of an ambitious initiative to build an
exact replica of Noah's Ark, using biblical dimensions, in Yerevan.
Plans for such an installment on the hilltop of Victory Park have
drawn mostly positive responses so far, but the project is still at
the stage of discussion.
The initiative group for the Noah's Ark complex was set up two years
ago and has been supported by a number of local scholars, public
and political figures, businessmen as well as some 150 scholars from
outside Armenia (among the backers are popular actor Sos Sargsyan,
well-known poet Aramayis Sahakyan, people's painter Levon Tokmajyan,
and others). The authors of the project and its backers give
assurances that if built, the massive structure will also serve as
a scientific-educational and historical-cultural center besides its
apparent main purpose of being a tourist attraction.
The project that has an estimated cost of $20 million (the investors
are the Armare company president and the director of the Fun Time Ltd.
operating in the amusement park) had been submitted to the Yerevan
Municipality, the Ministry of Culture, the prime minister and the
president.
Martun Harutyunyan, the author and implementer of the project, who
is also director of the Arts Enterprise Ltd. and president of the
Armare company, says the chief architect at the Yerevan Municipality
submitted the project to the Public Council's subcommittee for culture,
which gave a positive conclusion. "Now it is being considered at the
Public Council's urban planning subcommittee," he adds.
The structure of gigantic proportions (132 meters long, 22 meters wide
and 13 meters tall) is expected to be installed with its front facing
Mount Ararat (where biblical Noah's Ark came to rest after the great
flood), at a high point in Victory Park, which, as the authors of the
project say, is an area where "there are no trees or other greenery".
"We present the project, the area where corresponding specialists are
to carry out examinations, and if they find if appropriate, then the
decision on the allotment of land will be made. Now we are waiting
for this decision," says Toros Umrikyan, one of the authors of the
project who heads the Fun Time Ltd. at the amusement park. He adds
that as initiators they are also interested in the public opinion,
as well as in the views, proposals and observations of specialists.
The first floor of the four-storey construction (which would cover an
area of 10,000 square meters) would include eight statues of people
and 120 statues of animals, universal relics, utensils. A cinema, a
conference hall, office rooms would be housed on the second floor. The
third floor would have 40 guest rooms for tourists, while the fourth
floor would have a hall for government and state receptions as well
as rooms.
Special telescopes would be installed in the upper part of the Ark,
which will offer a unique opportunity to see Mount Ararat very close.
Member of the Noah's Ark replica construction group, Chairman of the
Painters' Union of Armenia Karen Aghamyan says such an opportunity
should not be missed.
"The concept of Noah's Ark is accepted universally and it enables
us to have a foothold in Armenia that will generate interest towards
our country, as it will show that Noah had come down here and mankind
continued its development right from here," says Aghamyan.
Another project enthusiast, writer Meruzhan Ter-Gulanyan, thinks that
"Noah's Ark is an idea of God's chosen people."
"Noah's Ark is a letter that God had sent us and till today we haven't
opened the envelope. We should realize this and taken upon ourselves
with dignity the task of building an ark as God's chosen people,"
says Ter-Gulanyan.