Travertine Tiles from the outer walls of the medieval pearl of Armenian architecture – the monastery complex “Gandzasar” in Nagorno-Karabakh – a sign of “patriotism, illiterate, divorced from the national soil.” As the correspondent BakuToday, At a press conference in Yerevan on July 13 the Armenian expert said the historical monuments Samvel Karapetyan.
In the social networking site Facebook appeared July 7 photos, that demonstrate the fact of “reconstruction” of one of the greatest Armenian historical and cultural treasures of medieval monastic complex Gandzasar (XIII century). In Karabakh. The photographs can be seen that the outer walls of the monastery complex is covered travertine tiles that do not fit into the medieval architecture of the complex.
Karapetyan, a disrespectful attitude to their own historical and cultural monuments – that other, as “a crime and assault with charitable motives.” Instead of spending to cover the walls of the church about $ 1.5 million, he believes, can be a small means in accordance with the principles of scientific reconstruction to restore its original form in the old wall.
“Unfortunately, this neglect to our churches is not new. Artsakh has two medieval churches were reconstructed through the travertine tiles. Our patrons should understand that after such a reconstruction of historical and cultural monument cease to be medieval,” – explained Karapetyan, adding that If Karabakh authorities will send a request to UNSEQ to include the monastery complex “Gandzasar” to the list of protected historical and cultural monuments organization, “just because of that lining the answer is no.”
Ministry of Culture of Armenia and Karabakh were against
Ministry of Culture of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh were against the draft on the reconstruction of the walls of the church, said Samvel Karapetyan, adding that, apparently, benefactor has not considered and expert opinion, backed by the Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the AAC Pargev Archbishop Martirosian, began reconstruction.
The other day the Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of AAC in conversation with journalists actually made for covering walls, referring to the fact that the walls of the church are in poor condition and overgrown with moss, they. In response to this statement Samvel Martirosyan said: “The vast majority of temples and other historical monuments of Nagorno-Karabakh is not made of basalt, and they can be overgrown with grass. And with this, they were all covered travertine, instead of careful reconstruction?” – Ask an expert on the Armenian architecture. According to Karapetian wall of the church “Gandzasar” built in the 13th century and is an integral part of the monastery complex.
It is noteworthy that recently a clarification on this issue and made head of the protection and study of historical monuments under the government of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Slava Sargsyan. He reported that in May of this year, management has received a letter from the Artsakh Diocese of the AAC, where as a person who is ready to fund this idea, bore the name of Levon Hayrapetyan. Management then refused the request because the lining of the walls could damage the historic Gandzasar spirit complex. Sargsyan noted that the cladding work is illegal. In his opinion, may interfere with the complex coating to enter the World Heritage list of UNESCO.
What to do and how to solve the problem?
To pause the cladding Gandzasarkosogo monastery, according to the speaker, the government should be shaped to appeal to court. “If the Armenian philanthropist ignored the position in this specialized area of the structure and began lining, this same structure must go to court to stop construction work” – he stressed.
However, according to Karapetian, in the case of the Gandzasar monastery, which has a universal value that can not be satisfied with just a simple injunction on construction. “Then you should very carefully remove all the tiles and clean the walls of dried cement,” – he concluded.
