New Initiative To Restore Shushi

[Siamanto]

NEW INITIATIVE TO RESTORE SHUSHI

 

Azg/arm

23 Nov 04

 

Even after more than 12 years of its liberation Shushi makes bitter

impression on the visitors. No serious work on rehabilitation and

restoration has been done here. Even if some people come to dwell in

the city, they do it for they have no other place to go.

 

Recently, receiving AGBU delegation, Arkady Ghukasian, NKR President,

stated that "Artsax has a budget amounting to 27 million and

can�~@~Yt restore Shushi alone, as $100 million are required for that."

 

Though Shushi Fund was founded in 2000, it implemented no serious

programs during the 4 years of its activities. Sevak Artsruni was

appointed the executive director (also president of Yerkir Union)

of the fund. The honorable chairman of Shushi Fund is Arkady

Ghukasian. The Board of the co-chairs includes Armen Sargsian,

NKR Culture Minister, his holiness archbishop Pargev, leader of

Artsakh�~@~Ys Diocese and Bakur Karapetian, publicist.

 

"I suggested to enlarge the board of the co-chairs by including

Diaspora representatives. Greguar Galust, representative of the

Lebanese Armenian Catholic community was included in the board of the

co-chairs and immediately initiated the first stage of the activities

for restoring Shushi," Artsruni says.

 

It is envisaged to stop all the works in Shushi in the first stage

and concentrate on elaborating prospective programs, i.e. to study

Sushi�~@~Ys historical-cultural heritage, to prove that Shushi is an

ancient center of the Armenian culture and "to make this proof the

basic capital for restoration."

 

Hamlet Petrosian, Doctor of Archeology, and Bakur Karapetian completed

the list of the city�~@~Ys historical-cultural monuments. "The

specialists studied about 180 buildings and elaborated the city�~@~Ys

restoration plan. 5 districts of the city were separated and at

present, we look for financial sources to organize international

architectural contests for the restoration of these districts.

The archeological excavations will begin in March of 2005, while in

the autumn of the same year a scientific conference will be held

"where we will have the opportunity to say what we have in Shushi

and what kind of plans we can have in the future," they say. This

is the first stage of the activities that are fully sponsored by the

Lebanese Armenian Catholic Community.

 

The works of the city�~@~Ys restoration are envisaged to begin in the

second stage. Contests will be announced for the plans and foreign

architects will be invited to participate in the restoration of Shushi.

 

By Tatoul Hakobian

 

 

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg97534.html