Wednesday, July 2 2014

On July 2 evening activists held a protest action against dismantlement of the Afrikyan building. They have repeatedly stated that they do not believe the building will be restored within the frames of the Old Yerevan project.     

"I regret over the fact that cultural heritage for our authorities is not the same as cultural heritage for our people. Actually, we have a city, which is over 2750 years old, and we cannot find at least a 100-year-old building here", Larisa Alaverdyan, the first Ombudsperson of Armenia, said to ArmInfo's correspondent.  
She said that the given process is going on under the guise that all the dismantled buildings will be restored under the Old Yerevan project. If the citizens saw over the past 5-7 years that the plans on creation of Old Yerevan had just a little progress, the activists' fight for the Afrikyan building would not be so painful now.   

"The building is one of the historical centers, which had an image characteristic of Armenian architecture back in early XX century. So, its demolition and the construction of tasteless buildings in the area where there used to be significant buildings is absolute lawlessness. One can prove that the Armenian Culture Ministry's helpless statements that the Ministry is allegedly unable to stop this process are a rather clumsy attempt to conceal human rights violation by their inactivity", stressed Alaverdyan. 

To note, the facade of the Afrikyan building in the center of Yerevan has already been completely dismantled.  The Afrikyan building is a monument of republican importance. In 2004 the building was sold to a private company by the Municipality. In 2006 the Government took a decision to dismantle the building and change its location.

Civil activists have held a number of actions of protest against dismantlement of the building. In the meantime, architect Levon Vardanyan, author of the Old Yerevan project, said that over the past few years unknown people had stolen the cantilevered balconies, stair flights and doors of the building. He added that he had applied to the Police but that gave no result. He added that the Afrikyan building is old Yerevan's first building, which is being dismantled at the professional level.  Vardanyan stressed that all construction operations are strictly controlled.