AGBU ARMENIACA Opens in Capital of Europe

These past few months brought hundreds of Belgian and other European citizens to Brussels for AGBU ARMENIACA's "The Pioneers of the Study of the Architectural Heritage of Armenia" exhibit, which launched on December 5, 2011, and ran for a full month. More recently a second showing was held from March 26 to 30, 2012. One of the organization's newest European initiatives, ARMENIACA is dedicated to the preservation, digitization, and development of archives related to the Armenian architectural heritage, and was selected and supported by the European Commission as part of the Component 1.3. Framework Programme "Culture 2007-2013." The exhibits were organized jointly by AGBU Europe and partners that included Centro Studi della Cultura e Documentazione Armena (CSDCA Italy), Research on Armenian Architecture (RAA), and Inside Europe. ARMENIACA debuted in Yerevan last year with stops in Milan and Venice before arriving to Europe's capital.

Over 300 architecture and culture enthusiasts, including representatives of the AGBU Europe District, attended the December event, which was held in the main hall of the Tours and Taxis property, and featured speakers Gayane Casnati, Bernard Coulie, Raymond Kevorkian and Nicolas Tavitian. The Bulletin, the main English-language monthly magazine of Brussels, highlighted the exhibition under its "Best of Brussels" section.

AGBU Europe District committee member Nicolas Tavitian highlighted the rich architectural heritage of Armenia while emphasizing that, since the Armenian influence has been dispersed across many countries, the preservation and study of its heritage has been particularly difficult.

Bernard Coulie, a professor at the Catholic University of Louvain and renowned Belgian specialist on the Armenian world, discussed the importance of Armenian architecture, which has helped develop early architectural techniques adopted by the rest the Christian world. He stated, "If Armenian architecture has so much importance today in the history of art, it has survived in part and bears witness to the art forms of the time, whereas so many others have disappeared from the Near East and from the ancient Roman and Byzantine Empires."

AGBU Nubarian Library Director Raymond Kevorkian, who is also the ARMENIACA coordinator, introduced the project's new database of photographic archives and documentaries on Armenian architecture, and presented scholars and architects who have worked in recent decades on the rediscovery and study of the vast Armenian heritage at risk.

Gayane Casnati, CSDCA Italy researcher and curator of the exhibition, spoke to guests about the pioneers of Armenian architecture studies, whose work now influences the preservation or restoration of hundreds of buildings of great value scattered throughout Europe, Turkey, and the Middle East.

To close the premiere evening, the film "Armenian Legacy of Europe," a documentary devoted to the Armenian heritage in Eastern Europe by the Renaissance Foundation of Ukraine, was screened for the first time in Belgium.

On the heels of such enthusiastic reactions, AGBU Europe presented the exhibition once again, this time at the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels from March 26 to 30, 2012. The event was hosted by MEP Michèle Rivasi, in partnership with members of Parliament from different political parties, including Frank Engel, Sylvie Guillaume and Dr. Charles Tannock.

At the inauguration, Rivasi welcomed the public and stressed the importance of ARMENIACA, which allows users to discover and rediscover Armenian architecture and its conservation. She noted that when the monuments are destroyed, an important part of the identity of an entire people disappears, as well. After thanking guests and Parliament for hosting the exhibition, Nicolas Tavitian remarked on the necessity of organizing this event at the EP. "Armenian monuments are often overlooked or destroyed because they are perceived as national symbols. Europe can encourage countries to consider all historical sites on their territories, regardless of their identity, as part of the host country's heritage and as valuable resources."

Dr. Tannock — author of a 2006 resolution relating to the destruction of the Armenian medieval burial ground in the Julfa site of Nakhichevan, a region next to Armenia, shared his own experiences when he visited Armenia and its closed border with neighboring Turkey, as well as his discovery that the formerly Armenian villages and churches there had been destroyed.

The European Commission and members of Parliament wholeheartedly supported AGBU's ARMENIACA project, indicating a growing interest on the subject by the European institutions, including importance placed on strategies to ensure the education about and preservation of architecture that is of great importance and value, yet has suffered considerably in the last century.

The ARMENIACA Project was first launched by AGBU Europe in Yerevan in October 2011, with a goal of renewing, preserving and enhancing the archives pertaining to the Armenian architectural heritage, and identifying and bringing together evidence of ancient and more recent monuments. A detailed database enables the transmission of knowledge and exchanges between researchers, students, artists and architects around the world, and currently includes 250,000 scanned documents, photographs, drawings, scientific studies, maps, and monographs.