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.