Armenia, France officially launch Armenian cultural heritage  preservation program

ArmInfo.Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Armenia Ms. Anne  Louyot and Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of  Armenia Vahram Dumanyan signed a memorandum on the official launch of  a large program aimed at preserving the cultural heritage of Armenia,  developing the potential of specialists in this field, as well as  implementing and development of "Armenia.

Exploring, preserving  and  enhancing heritage" museum project.  Minister Dumanyan noted that  cultural heritage is a priority for the Armenian government,  especially after the 44-day Artsakh war, when Azerbaijan launched a  policy of cultural genocide, which created challenges for the  preservation of Armenia's cultural heritage outside the country.

Noting that the Armenian-French agenda is expanding from year to  year, Doumanyan expressed hope that the program will be long-lasting.  "I hope this project will contribute to the development of effective  Armenian-French cooperation, creating new opportunities for the  implementation of new programs," he said.

According to Ms. Louyot, the program includes 3 components that cover  various areas of cultural heritage and rely on the skills and leading  experience of French and Armenian specialists. In particular, within  the framework of the first component, it is planned to strengthen and  develop the skills of Armenian specialists in the restoration and  preservation of cultural heritage through retraining at the National  Heritage Institute of France in cooperation with the Scientific  research center of the historical and cultural heritage.  In this  regard, the director of the Institute, Charles Personnaz , emphasized  that the institution was involved in the process of developing a  retraining program from the very beginning. In addition, he noted  that the program also provides an opportunity to exchange  specialists. In this regard, Personnaz remarked:  "We also have  something to learn from Armenian specialists."

He also stressed that Armenia and France are countries with an  exceptional heritage, including architectural style. "Our task is to  make cooperation long-term in order to increase the value of the  existing heritage for the whole world," he said.

The second component of the program, as noted, concerns the  restoration of the monastery complex of "Tatevi Mets Anapat  ".  At  the first stage of the project, it is planned to conduct a historical  and architectural study of the monuments, and before the actual  restoration, to organize the first volunteer labor camp together with  "Rempart" and the Terre et Culture association ().  The second component is also implemented by the French National  Heritage Institute in collaboration with the Scientific research  center of the historical and cultural heritage. The program is still  at the development stage. At the moment, a work schedule is being  drawn up.

The third component is related to the reorganization and  modernization of the Erebuni Museum's permanent exhibition in order  to increase the value of the latter. It is noteworthy that the  project will be implemented jointly with the world's leading museum -  the Louvre. This is the first project in Armenia in which a museum of  this level has been involved. Head of the Oriental Antiquities  Department of the Louvre Museum , Ariane Thomas, noted: "It is a  great honor for me to participate in the program to develop a new  concept for such an important museum for Armenia as Erebuni. And we  will be happy to participate in the revival of the museum>.

In turn director of the Erebuni Museum Mikayel Badalyan said that  practically since 1983 the exposition of the museum has not been  updated. He called the support of the Louvre invaluable, noting in  this regard that there is a limited number of specialists in Armenia  involved in holding exhibitions in museums.

The total cost of the project is 600 thousand euros. According to the  signed memorandum, the project will start in July this year and end  in December 2023.

The project was developed by the Ministry of Education, Science,  Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia in cooperation with the  National Heritage Institute of France, the Louvre Museum, the  Scientific research center of the historical and cultural heritage  and the Erebuni Museum.