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“I have a positive opinion regarding the creation of a Committee for the Protection of Architectural and Cultural Monuments,” expert on Nakhijevan, Honoured Worker of Culture, Argam Aivazian said during a press conference today, September 28.

“The former Minister of Culture has warned that taking this function from the Ministry could lead to very bad consequences regarding the monuments’ preservation issue. I do not think so. In 1921, a Committee on Preservation of Antiquities and Artistic Monuments was established and from then on until 1995, that institution hasn’t been under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture,” he reminded.

Speaking about the restoration of monuments administered by the Ministry of Culture, the Honoured Worker of Culture said that the work carried out over the last 10-15 years has been rather unprofessional.
According to him, to realize this it’s enough to observe the work carried out in capital Yerevan. “We haven’t been able to even preserve a small part of the core of Yerevan. And then the ‘Old Yerevan’ project came into being, which doesn’t have any historical value. It’s a shame collecting some five-ten buildings under a roof of some market.”

Argam Aivazian added that writing and publishing books about monuments is also a form of their protection. However, that isn’t observed in the policy of the Ministry of Culture.