Lecture on issues of monument preservation delivered at YSU

Mkhitar Gabrielyan, Dean of the YSU Faculty of History, speaking about the lecture held at the suggestion of "Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum-Reservations" SNCO, highlighted that the employees giving the lecture are former and current students of the Faculty of History.  

Referring to the issues related to monument preservation, the dean said: "Monument preservation is first of all a science,  professional preparedness, and only then - attitude."

Mkhitar Gabrielyan, emphasizing the impermissible approaches to dealing with monuments, said: "For instance, many join two fragments of a khachkar (cross-stone) with cement, thinking that they are saving the monument. This, of course, is a sincere devotion, but not a scientific approach. Some institutions take it upon themselves to restore monument areas using modern techniques, causing irreversible damage to monuments, as noted by UNESCO."

He pointed out that it is necessary to make such meetings more frequent and more objective, and the Faculty of History stands ready to support this initiative. 

"I hope this will become such a student initiative, as part of which similar issues will be discussed in specific settlements," said M. Gabrielyan. 

During the lecture, Ani Avetisyan and Mari Tevosyan, specialists from the Department of Monument Preservation of the "Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum-Reservations" SNCO presented types of monuments, preservation issues and steps towards the implementation of preservation.  

"There are more than 25,000 registered monuments in the Republic of Armenia, of which 20,000 are state protected monuments," they said and added that Geghardavank with the Azat Gorge, Sanahin and Haghpat monastic complexes, Zvartnots Cathedral and Etchmiadzin churches (notably the Cathedral) were included in the list of monuments under the protection of UNESCO. 

Speaking about the restoration of destroyed monuments, employees of the SNCO emphasized that to carry out restoration works, it is necessary to have the scientifically approved project of the given monument and 70 percent of the stones of the destroyed monument. 

Referring to the archaeological excavations, they emphasized that it is not permissible to carry out complete excavations of archaeological monuments, as a part of their territory needs to be preserved so that future generations will have the opportunity to conduct studies with more advanced methods.

The participation of the youth in the process of monument preservation, as well as a number of other issues related to the field, were also discussed within the framework of the lecture.

Since 1983, upon the proposal of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), UNESCO has designated April 18 as the International Day for Monuments and Sites.