Mikhail Piotrovsky: We must save the monuments after the war in  Karabakh

ArmInfo. "I would refer to the word "ressentiment", which Nietzsche once suggested to us.Anger and irritation caused by disappointment and setbacks, the search for  the enemy responsible for their failures - this is the soil from  which this war was born, "said in an interview with RG, Director of  the State Hermitage, Academician Mikhail Piotrovsky, who addressed  with a kind of manifesto on the preservation of cultural monuments of  the Caucasus in difficult post-war times.

According to him, the issue of preserving monuments almost  immediately and actively sounded in the speech of the leader of  Russia. He recalled that in Karabakh Russian peacekeepers guard the  Dadivank monastery. The situation related to other monuments is  relatively calm. <But what is happening in them must be made the  subject of attention and news. It is necessary to create public  opinion protecting cultural monuments. If you want to impose  understanding on a variety of people: even if you hate this or that  people or religion, you should not touch cultural monuments. Because  history belongs to every nation. And cultural monuments - this idea  is the most important for me now - belong to humanity. They should  not be touched precisely because they are not someone's specifically,  but belong to everyone. And all of humanity, the whole world must  protect them. Whether in Syria, or in the Caucasus, everywhere,  "Piotrovsky stressed.

The academician pointed out the importance of convincing ordinary  people and politicians that cultural monuments are important almost  on a par with human lives. That their destruction is a crime. <I have  participated in several international discussions on this topic. Many  believe that international rules of intervention are needed to  protect monuments. So far, there is no integral global system for  protecting monuments. But it needs to be created. There are agreed  international positions on what to do when human rights are violated,  and when monuments are threatened, a scheme for monitoring what is  happening and responding to the threat should be worked out. It is  necessary to develop documents, prescribe a response mechanism and  seek the adoption of specific protective measures. I understand, but  this is a real dilemma.  During the war, an observation post was  almost always located on church bell towers. And what to do when  raising people to attack? To demolish the belfry with a shell, or to  leave it, risking the lives of people - this was the officer to  decide. Already in the Second World War, such questions were in all  armies. Teh same question is standing now, "he said.

According to Piotrovsky, each nation has its own roots and its own  cultural values. <I was born in Armenia.  Armenians, for example,  have almost mystical attitude to their own heritage - religion,  writing, manuscripts, architecture. They treat the alphabet as a  shrine. Western-oriented Armenians even arranged a provocative  discussion on the topic, that if they abandoned the Armenian  alphabet, took the Greek one, they would be more civilized and  already a part of Europe. But not coincidently in a plaque with the  Armenian alphabet made of gold is kept  Echmiadzin. Respect for  heritage is what brings people together.  And here I have to say one  more thought that is not obvious to many, but very important. You  will be able to understand and better perceive your cultural heritage  by well understanding someone else's. "Understand someone else's, and  you will understand yours" - this is my formula. The Hermitage  teaches us this, "the academician emphasized.

In his opinion, it is necessary to find "pain points" of threats to  monuments and talk and write a lot about this. <Do not take eyes off  the ancient monasteries - Dadivank and Gandzasar. Be attentive to the  mosques in Karabakh. And all the time - without emotion - to tell  what exactly is happening with the monuments. It is not so much to  blame "this is bad" as to present the full picture: this is the case,  this is the case. And to the conversations "Well, of course, they  protect their own", invariably answer that the cultural heritage is  always common>, the academician said.