01 July 2011, 14:00
The community of Giumri against placing the frescos by Minas in the airport of “Zvartonts”
36 non-governmental organizations of Shirak region of Armenia sent a message to Edwardo Ernekyan, Armenian philanthropist from the Argentine, owner of "Armenia International Airports" company, calling not to place the frescos my Minas Avetisyan in Yerevan airport “Zvartonts” and limit himself to their copies.
They meant two frescos: “Millstones” and “Spinning the Thread” made on the walls of a former plant in the ‘70s. After the earthquake of 1988 in Spitak these works of art had been in a very poor state. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the building of the enterprise was tumbledown and for this reason the frescos were undergoing the exposure of rain and snow for 20 years.
The frescos by Minas are expected to be restored this year and placed in a new terminal of “Zvartonts” airport in accordance with the decision of Armenian Government. President of "Armenia International Airports" company Edwardo Ernekyan promised to allot 200 million drams on restoration of the frescos.
The signers of the appeal sent to Edwardo Ernekyan on behalf of non-governmental organizations wrote: “For some reasons we cannot understand, the Government took the decision of transfer at the moment when the community authorities of Guimri, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Armenia and “Minas Avetisyan” foundation had been actively negotiating in oral and written form on the questions of restoration and placing the frescos in Guimri for already a year”.
“The Government’s decisions on taking the frescos by Minas Avetisyan out of their cradle and off the members of Giumri community can be only estimated as groundless, and in the context of the policy of decentralization of culture declared by the authorities, as strange ones and abusive for us and the city”, ARMENIA Today quotes the appeal.
There has been no news of Edwardo Ernekyan’s reaction yet.
Meanwhile, over four thousand residents of Guimri signed an appeal to Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sarkisyan demanding to return the frescos by Minas from Yerevan, Tert.am reports.
