In early December, upon the invitation of Anahit Tarkhanyan, members and supporters of the “Carahunge Armenological Center” held a heartfelt gathering at a charming place representing the glory of modernist architecture in Soviet Armenia, called the “Arthur Tarkhanyan Architectural Center”. The museum and exhibition hall, funded by the family, was built by the daughter of the great architect, Anahit Tarkhanyan, also a renowned architect and author of many interesting projects.
The building is truly a unique structure; within its seemingly small volume, an architectural universe is encapsulated. Otherwise, the exhibition, which tells of the numerous works of talented members of the great family of architects, nurtured and strengthened in the caring environment of Alexander Tamanyan, a famous architect, author, and builder of the Yerevan project, cannot be described. When you have the opportunity to pass by architectural monuments, each of which can serve as a business card of Yerevan, you are filled with a sense of pride for having once lived and walked alongside this Great Armenian. And when you see the exhibitions of all the buildings under one roof, in chronological and thematic strong connection with each other, your heart is filled with endless joy, and you wonder how a mortal can conceive all this, bring it to life, and give it to subsequent generations.
One after another, you see how projects and constructions of monuments are formed step by step, listen to informative stories about each of them from Anahit Tarkhanyan, and marvel at the creative abilities endowed upon a person. Here is the building of the “Russia” cinema, which according to the project was called “Urartu”, here is the “Sport-Concert Complex” with its two lives – before and after the fire, here is the monument to the victims of the Genocide, built in Tsitsernakaberd, here is the “Airport”, beautiful and perfect from the point of view of complex application, over which hangs the sword of Damocles, here is the “Youth Palace” complex, which we did not defend and allowed something unacceptable to be done with it... And all of them under one roof. Involuntarily, you think about how great individuals are in their creation and how careless we sometimes are in matters of their preservation.
On behalf of the members and thousands of supporters gathered around the NGO “Carahunge Armenological Center” we (Nana Heruni, Tovmas Badalyan, Hrachya Hakobjanyan, Hovhannes Azizbekyan, Leyla Stepanyan, Zohrab Mugdusyan, Garnik Stepanyan, Hovhannes Pikichyan, Yelena Hakobyan, Mariam Vardanyan) thank Anahit Tarkhanyan and her family for creating, maintaining, and popularizing this valuable museum and exhibition hall. Thank you on behalf of the ordinary citizens of Armenia!
