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THE MINAS SAGA: GYUMRI SCHOLARS WANT "STOLEN" MURALS RETURNED
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow
21.06.11 | 09:18
Vahan Tumasyan, Levon Barseghyan and Hasmik Melkonyan ((lef to right)
The wave of protest over the removal of prominent Soviet-Armenian
painter Minas Avetisyan's murals and their transportation to Yerevan
won't subside in Gyumri, the town where those wall-paintings were
created.
Scholars in Gyumri, which is in Minas' native Shirak province, demand
that the two frescoes be returned to the city and the minister of
culture who "gave false promises" and "made wrong decisions" be sacked.
The problem is even shifting from the cultural into political domain
as more and more people in Gyumri appear disappointed with the ruling
Republican Party over the developments and warn they won't give it
their votes at next year's parliamentary elections unless the murals
are returned.
"This is a serious blow to the prestige of both [President] Serzh
Sargsyan and the Republican Party. If the Minas wall-paintings are
not returned before the next elections, the Republicans in Gyumri will
poll maximum 30 votes," says award-winning journalist Levon Barseghyan,
who heads the Asparez journalistic club in Gyumri.
Still in April, the government allowed the "Minas Avetisyan" cultural
charitable foundation to remove Minas' "Spinning the Thread" and
"Millstone" frescoes from the building that used to house a canteen
of the Electrotehnical Plant CJSC in Gyumri and have them renovated
with the sponsorship of the Armenia International Airports CJSC.
After the renovation the "Millstone" fresco is to be displayed at
the presidential complex of Zvartnots Airport near Yerevan, and
"Spinning the Thread" will be showcased in one of the halls of the
new passenger terminal at the same airport.
However, people in Gyumri demand that the frescoes "stolen" from
their city be returned, insisting that the original arrangement had
been that after restoration work they would stay in Armenia's second
largest city.
Last year saw the transportation of two other Minas frescoes from
Gyumri to Yerevan. Those were "By the Khachkar" and "Meeting". They
were installed in the government building, but it was promised then
that once a week a day of "open doors" would be held at the government
building for art lovers and the general public to be able to see the
great artist's works. The promise has not been kept, however.
The main reasoning provided by the Ministry of Culture for the
transportation of the wall-paintings is that they were kept in poor
conditions in Gyumri and needed to be immediately restored and provided
with normal conditions to be preserved.
The "Minas Avetisyan" cultural charitable foundation chairman Arman
Avetisyan, who is Minas's son, regarding Gyumri people's "belated
protest", says that "instead of making the noise they should have at
least hired a watchman to make sure the frescoes did not get scratched
and ruined."
Meanwhile, in Gyumri they insist that still in 2009 "the mayor of
Gyumri sent different letters to the culture minister with proposals
regarding the fate of Minas Avetisyan frescoes and on how to save
them", but they did not elicit any response.
"On January 25 this year, Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan met Minas'
son Arman Avetisyan. During the discussion the mayor reaffirmed his
readiness to provide funding for the restoration of the frescoes.
However, after the positive response, suddenly for us, there followed
the well-known government decision about the transportation of the
frescoes to the "Armenia" Airport," the Gyumri municipality said in
a statement.
Sona Harutyunyan, who heads the contemporary art and folk crafts
department at the Ministry of Culture, insists that "there was no
original arrangement that the frescos would not be transported" and
adds that "Gyumri will not go bankrupt because of the removal of a
couple of frescoes, as 16 are still there."
But the Gyumri community is concerned not about the "bankruptcy"
issue, but rather about the fact that, as Shirak NGO Chairman Vahan
Tumasyan puts it, "the government has turned Minas frescoes into a
subject of business under the guise of saving the cultural value."
"We've started a signature-collection campaign and gathered as many as
400 signatures within half an hour. So I'm sure within a month we will
collect 40,000-50,000 signatures to demand [the return of] not only
the last two, but also the four frescoes that are now 'imprisoned'
in the government building," Tumasyan tells ArmeniaNow.
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow
21.06.11 | 09:18
Vahan Tumasyan, Levon Barseghyan and Hasmik Melkonyan ((lef to right)
The wave of protest over the removal of prominent Soviet-Armenian
painter Minas Avetisyan's murals and their transportation to Yerevan
won't subside in Gyumri, the town where those wall-paintings were
created.
Scholars in Gyumri, which is in Minas' native Shirak province, demand
that the two frescoes be returned to the city and the minister of
culture who "gave false promises" and "made wrong decisions" be sacked.
The problem is even shifting from the cultural into political domain
as more and more people in Gyumri appear disappointed with the ruling
Republican Party over the developments and warn they won't give it
their votes at next year's parliamentary elections unless the murals
are returned.
"This is a serious blow to the prestige of both [President] Serzh
Sargsyan and the Republican Party. If the Minas wall-paintings are
not returned before the next elections, the Republicans in Gyumri will
poll maximum 30 votes," says award-winning journalist Levon Barseghyan,
who heads the Asparez journalistic club in Gyumri.
Still in April, the government allowed the "Minas Avetisyan" cultural
charitable foundation to remove Minas' "Spinning the Thread" and
"Millstone" frescoes from the building that used to house a canteen
of the Electrotehnical Plant CJSC in Gyumri and have them renovated
with the sponsorship of the Armenia International Airports CJSC.
After the renovation the "Millstone" fresco is to be displayed at
the presidential complex of Zvartnots Airport near Yerevan, and
"Spinning the Thread" will be showcased in one of the halls of the
new passenger terminal at the same airport.
However, people in Gyumri demand that the frescoes "stolen" from
their city be returned, insisting that the original arrangement had
been that after restoration work they would stay in Armenia's second
largest city.
Last year saw the transportation of two other Minas frescoes from
Gyumri to Yerevan. Those were "By the Khachkar" and "Meeting". They
were installed in the government building, but it was promised then
that once a week a day of "open doors" would be held at the government
building for art lovers and the general public to be able to see the
great artist's works. The promise has not been kept, however.
The main reasoning provided by the Ministry of Culture for the
transportation of the wall-paintings is that they were kept in poor
conditions in Gyumri and needed to be immediately restored and provided
with normal conditions to be preserved.
The "Minas Avetisyan" cultural charitable foundation chairman Arman
Avetisyan, who is Minas's son, regarding Gyumri people's "belated
protest", says that "instead of making the noise they should have at
least hired a watchman to make sure the frescoes did not get scratched
and ruined."
Meanwhile, in Gyumri they insist that still in 2009 "the mayor of
Gyumri sent different letters to the culture minister with proposals
regarding the fate of Minas Avetisyan frescoes and on how to save
them", but they did not elicit any response.
"On January 25 this year, Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan met Minas'
son Arman Avetisyan. During the discussion the mayor reaffirmed his
readiness to provide funding for the restoration of the frescoes.
However, after the positive response, suddenly for us, there followed
the well-known government decision about the transportation of the
frescoes to the "Armenia" Airport," the Gyumri municipality said in
a statement.
Sona Harutyunyan, who heads the contemporary art and folk crafts
department at the Ministry of Culture, insists that "there was no
original arrangement that the frescos would not be transported" and
adds that "Gyumri will not go bankrupt because of the removal of a
couple of frescoes, as 16 are still there."
But the Gyumri community is concerned not about the "bankruptcy"
issue, but rather about the fact that, as Shirak NGO Chairman Vahan
Tumasyan puts it, "the government has turned Minas frescoes into a
subject of business under the guise of saving the cultural value."
"We've started a signature-collection campaign and gathered as many as
400 signatures within half an hour. So I'm sure within a month we will
collect 40,000-50,000 signatures to demand [the return of] not only
the last two, but also the four frescoes that are now 'imprisoned'
in the government building," Tumasyan tells ArmeniaNow.