RA MESCS discusses inclusion of a number of historical and cultural monuments of Armenia in the tentative and main lists of UNESCO World Heritage Site

ArmInfo. A meeting was  organized at the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports  of the Republic of Armenia to discuss the inclusion of a number of  immovable historical and cultural monuments in the tentative and main  lists of UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Representatives from the Department of History and Protection of  Cultural Monuments of the MESCS, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the  Center for the Study of Historical and Cultural Heritage, and the  Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of  Sciences also participated  in the discussions. The topics discussed  included the issues, deadlines and challenges related to submitting  an application for the inclusion of the dragon stones and the  cultural landscape of the Tirinkatar archaeological site in the  Aragatsotn region of the Republic on the tentative list of UNESCO  World Heritage Site.

 It was decided to begin the tentative assessment process for the  mentioned application in the fall of this year. To recall, that  earlier, during the 46th session of the UNESCO World Heritage  Committee, held in Delhi, from July 20-30 of this year, the dragon  stones and the cultural landscape of the Tirinkatar archaeological  site were added to the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The meeting emphasized the importance of cooperation on this issue  with public and international organizations.  Moving forward,  discussions regarding the landscape of dragon stones and the ancient  settlement of Tirinkatar will be held with local governments in the  near future.

The second item on the agenda was the update of the data for the  applications for the Tatev monastery complex and the surrounding area  of the Vorotan River valley. This also includes the temple and  ancient site of Yereruyk, both of which are included in the tentative  list of UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was mentioned that an  application will be prepared to include the Garni historical and  cultural reserve- museum, the Symphony of Stones natural monument,  and the adjacent gorge in the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage  Site. The experts also presented reports on the progress of other  applications and discussed the schedule for their submission to the  UNESCO World Heritage Committee.