Published since 07.2002
Published on July 18, 2008
MONUMENTAL AWARENESS: GYUMRI’S OLD TOWN GETS NEW INFORMATION KIOSKS
- The historic district of Gyumri holds stories even many locals don’t know but that research has revealed to add layers to Armenia’s culturally rich “second city”. Those gems of folklore and history are being made available to residents and, significantly, to tourists, as the Armenian Monuments Awareness Project (AMAP) unveils a series of information ports leading visitors through a five-language (Armenian, Russian, English, French, Italian) tour of the old town. Earlier this summer AMAP installed information ports at the popular tourist destination of Garni, where visitors may now not only view the ancient artifacts, but can also read their history. The Gyumri ports – expected to be officially unveiled July 26 – will lead guests on a walking tour that points out historic or simply interesting bits of fact or trivia revealing the character behind the old homes. For example: “Khalatian House, 1860-1880. This is the beginning of a complex built by the Khalatian Sons, three brothers who established themselves in Alexandropol. The first is a single floor dwelling with courtyard featuring the classic black and red tufa design in old Kumaiyri. Set against a background of black tufa, the red squares are patterned like diamonds along the lower façade. This is one side of a corner building, which continues on Gorki Street. Note the fountain in the wall. It was built by one of the sons who had married a Russian. The Russian Orthodox cross in the upper right corner was added for the benefit of the new bride.” The Kumairi reserve and museum includes the central historic part of the second largest town in Armenia with more than 200 hectares of territory. The institution supervises about 1,600 buildings – churches, museums, schools and cultural centers, mainly of the 18th-20th centuries. The majority of the buildings are residential and private houses. Those are 1-3 storied structures built of black and red tufa stone with external ornamental cornices, wooden ceilings and high narrow windows. The non-residential buildings of these historically and culturally valuable structures have been more or less repaired through a state program, but the residential ones are extremely worn out despite all of them have survived the earthquakes of 1926 and 1988. The idea for the Gyumri project belongs to a Texan, Rick Ney, who has worked in Armenia for more than a decade and John Hughes Editor-in-Chief of ArmeniaNow internet journal, who has been living and working in Armenia since 2000. Together they started AMAP with the hope of making Armenian sites more accessible to non-Armenians, while also reminding residents of their history. “These information panels are first of all for local residents and then for tourists. This project can somehow be a stimulus for people to say: “Oh, my God, this is my district, maybe Gyumri is not bad, maybe I can do something for my city” says Ney. Starting in Gyumri’s Kumari district, AMAP plans a three-stage implementation that will link different sections of the city. The first phase consists of 14 ports. This novelty for Gyumri stirred a true interest of the people in the town. “No such information boards have ever been in Gyumri. In the Soviet times the arriving tourists had guides accompanying them and telling everything about the town. I am confident the somewhat indifferent residents of Gyumri still know little about the historic monuments of the town,” says Sargis Khachatryan, 64. Ney says the idea of the program occurred to him 17 years ago, when he first came to Armenia. “If you wanted to learn some information about this or that monument you had to read a thick book. It was not comfortable, so I was thinking of such a project. I am glad that my opinion is shared by others also”, says Ney. The program is supported by USAID, the Honorary Consul of Italy in Gyumri Antonio Montaldo, with donations coming from VivaCell telecommunications company. In the coming months AMAP will also be installing such information ports at Khor Virap, Noravank and Zvartnots temple. The project also has plans to produce road signs that will make it easier for tourists to find cultural, historic, natural and spiritual points of interest in Armenia.
- Ani Hakobyan
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Today in Armenian history- 1894 Birth of Vahan Totovents (writer). He was murdered by the Soviet Secret Police in 1937.
- 1914 The Central Committees of Taron and Sassoon present the reform program to three embassies in Constantinople.
- 1938 Birth of Perch Zeytuntsyan (playwright) in Cairo (Egypt).
- 1988 The USSR Supreme Soviet, relies on Article 78 of the Soviet Constitution (prohibition of any territorial changes to a Union Republic without its consent) to deny the 1988 02 20 petition by the Autonomous Region of Nagorno Gharabagh to rejoin Armenia.
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