An action in protection of historic monuments passed off in Yerevan

On February, 11, on the initiative of “Trkchan Defenders” group an action of protest connected with construction of a hotel complex near the building of the Armenian Cultural Relations Society (ACRS) was held in Yerevan.

In the participants’ opinion, construction of the complex is dangerous to ACRS and the adjoining buildings included into the list of historic and cultural monuments, the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent reports.

The historic building of the Armenian Cultural Relations Society was erected in 1915, upon Dr. Oganes Oganesyan’s order. Thanks to its architectural design, it is considered one of the most beautiful buildings of Yerevan, Arminfo reports.

Participant of the action Arthur Grigoryan pointed out that members of “Trkchan Defenders” group had repeatedly warned the Ministry of Town-planning and the Ministry of Culture about the risk of construction of the hotel.

He thinks that the building of ACRS and the neighbouring dwelling house will be dismantled as a result of this construction.

The activists produced an expert report of the Ministry of Emergency Situations according to which the plan of construction ignored fire-prevention standards of admissible distance between the houses. Neither was the demand of the object’s location in the grade 9 earthquake seismic zone taken into account.

In their statement “Trkchan Defenders” called for Minister of Culture of Armenia Asmik Pogosyan to give explanations concerning the fears and criticism expressed in the official documents.

Head of Yerevan territorial department of Historic and cultural monuments preservation agency with the Ministry of Culture of Armenia Karo Aivazyan assured that the building of ACRS and the neighbouring dwelling house were not liable to pulling down.