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ANSA Med, Italy
Nov 16 2012
Tourism: Paestum celebrates Armenia, loved by Italians
Deputy culture minister at Borsa Med, protect heritage
16 November, 15:47
(ANSAmed) - Paestum (Salerno), November 16 - Armenia's history evokes
the myth of the mooring of Noah's arch on Mount Ararat - now on
Turkish land but visible from the border - and the passage of Marco
Polo along his voyage to the Far East. But Armenia also has a rich
historic and archaeological heritage. A heritage 'we must treat with
great caution and limit the amount of excavation sites to leave them
to the next generation who will have better scientific and
technological know-how', said the country's deputy culture minister
Arev Samuelyan. 'The priority is to protect the heritage of the past'.
Sustainable tourism is at the centre of debates at the Borsa
Mediterranea del Turismo Archeologico - an event focusing on
archaeological tourism ongoing in Paestum in southern Italy. The risks
involved in a bad management of its heritage are clear to the Armenian
government, said the deputy minister: 'This is our asset, we have to
find the best way to preserve it and present it to visitors'.
Armenia, the guest country of the 15th edition of the Borsa, is a
young republic created in 1991 after 70 years of Soviet rule, and on
its memory weigh the massacres of Armenians in Anatolia between 1915
and 1918 inside the former Ottoman empire.
Those who were able to escape fled to the Middle East, Europe or North
America, where the 4th generation of the Diaspora now lives -
totalling almost ten million people worldwide compared to the three
million living in the Republic of Armenia. And the offspring of the
Diaspora constitute the great majority of visitors who travel to
admire the country's beautiful landscape, its thousands of stone
crosses (Khachkar), mountain churches and monasteries. The Armenian
people were the first to convert to Christianity and make it the state
religion (in 301 AD, 79 years before the Roman empire), said
Samuelyan.
However, the first Christian king of the country was the one to save
the pagan temple of Garni to make it a summer residence for his wife.
And Pagan rites are still being performed like one of purification
during the Vardavar summer festival. 'This is a good lesson of
tolerance for all of us as the capital Yerevan has been a crossroads
of civilizations for centuries', said the deputy minister.
Yerevan is one of the oldest cities worldwide and a modern capital
today visited by 12,000 Italians every year, concluded the vice
minister. Two airlines connect Italy to the country - Alitalia, which
will start operating two connections a week in December and Armavia
which will resume flights to Rome, Venice and Milan in March.
(ANSAmed)
http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/nations/italy/2012/11/16/Tourism-Paestum-celebrates-Armenia-loved-Italians_7807695.html
Nov 16 2012
Tourism: Paestum celebrates Armenia, loved by Italians
Deputy culture minister at Borsa Med, protect heritage
16 November, 15:47
(ANSAmed) - Paestum (Salerno), November 16 - Armenia's history evokes
the myth of the mooring of Noah's arch on Mount Ararat - now on
Turkish land but visible from the border - and the passage of Marco
Polo along his voyage to the Far East. But Armenia also has a rich
historic and archaeological heritage. A heritage 'we must treat with
great caution and limit the amount of excavation sites to leave them
to the next generation who will have better scientific and
technological know-how', said the country's deputy culture minister
Arev Samuelyan. 'The priority is to protect the heritage of the past'.
Sustainable tourism is at the centre of debates at the Borsa
Mediterranea del Turismo Archeologico - an event focusing on
archaeological tourism ongoing in Paestum in southern Italy. The risks
involved in a bad management of its heritage are clear to the Armenian
government, said the deputy minister: 'This is our asset, we have to
find the best way to preserve it and present it to visitors'.
Armenia, the guest country of the 15th edition of the Borsa, is a
young republic created in 1991 after 70 years of Soviet rule, and on
its memory weigh the massacres of Armenians in Anatolia between 1915
and 1918 inside the former Ottoman empire.
Those who were able to escape fled to the Middle East, Europe or North
America, where the 4th generation of the Diaspora now lives -
totalling almost ten million people worldwide compared to the three
million living in the Republic of Armenia. And the offspring of the
Diaspora constitute the great majority of visitors who travel to
admire the country's beautiful landscape, its thousands of stone
crosses (Khachkar), mountain churches and monasteries. The Armenian
people were the first to convert to Christianity and make it the state
religion (in 301 AD, 79 years before the Roman empire), said
Samuelyan.
However, the first Christian king of the country was the one to save
the pagan temple of Garni to make it a summer residence for his wife.
And Pagan rites are still being performed like one of purification
during the Vardavar summer festival. 'This is a good lesson of
tolerance for all of us as the capital Yerevan has been a crossroads
of civilizations for centuries', said the deputy minister.
Yerevan is one of the oldest cities worldwide and a modern capital
today visited by 12,000 Italians every year, concluded the vice
minister. Two airlines connect Italy to the country - Alitalia, which
will start operating two connections a week in December and Armavia
which will resume flights to Rome, Venice and Milan in March.
(ANSAmed)
http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/nations/italy/2012/11/16/Tourism-Paestum-celebrates-Armenia-loved-Italians_7807695.html