NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ARCHITECTURE AND CONSTRUCTION OF ARMENIA

Recently, the international conference entitled “Architectural Heritage and Contemporary Architecture” (ICAHCA) has been held on San Lazzaro Island in Venice, Italy, during which the participants from Armenia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Serbia and France made their presentations. The purpose of the Conference was to identify ways to solve the urgent problems of preservation of architectural monuments and historical landscape, as well as creation of an urban environment and new comfortable areas.

In total, fifty-four scientific reports had been received from different countries, among which were such valuable reports related to the Armenian architectural heritage, as “Conservation Problems of Wall Paintings within the Architectural Heritage” by architect Ara Zarian, “The Relations of Artsakh Muslim Mausoleums with Armenian Architecture” by Manushak Titanyan, displaced from Artsakh, “The Secret of Eternity” by Wanja Wedekind, “Preventive Conservation of Cultural Heritage in Armenia: A Preliminary Study of the Internal Surfaces of Geghard Monastery” by Mathilde Veneziano, “Ererouyk Basilica: A Collaborative and Multidisciplinary Preservation Project in a Challenging Context” by Gaiane Casnati, Emma Harutyunyan, Nanar Kalantaryan and Lorenza Petrini, “About the Problems of the Fixative/Protective Materials for Wall Paintings Especially on the Facades” by Christine Lamoureux, “The Current State of Armenian Historical and Cultural Monuments in the Occupied Territories of Artsakh and the Role of the Russian Peacekeepers” by Hamlet Petrosyan and many other interesting reports.

The abstracts of all presented reports have been published in a separate book, and the Conference reports will be published in the form of an article in a periodical included in the Scopus scientific information database.

The 2024 conference is planned to be held in Armenia.

The official opening of the International Conference was preceded by the official opening ceremony of the Exhibition of student works on the regeneration of San Lazzaro Island and Vienna historical complexes of the Mekhitarist Congregation, organized within the framework of IACOBUS+ international academic programme.

At the opening of the Conference, Vice-Rector for Scientific Affairs, Doctor of Sciences (Physics) Manuk Barseghyan read Rector, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Yeghiazar Vardanyan’s welcome speech, after which cultural relics were handed over to enrich the precious collection of the Mekhitarist Congregation, which has a universal value. NUACA gifted the “Thorn of Ararat” oil painting by the RA Honorary Painter Hrant Tadevosyan, “Dante and Charents” by the RA People’s Painter Henrik Mamyan, the “Bird” lithographies (from the “Wind” series) by Harutyun Samuelyan, “Noratus Khachkar” painted on rice paper with Chinese ink by the Japanese artist Kunito Nagaoka, as well as “Dedication” bronze works by sculptor Gurgen Hakobyan.

Among the University gifts there were also “Armenia. Culture, Nature, People” book, published as a result of the Armenian-German cooperation, as well as five valuable books by Doctor in Architecture Ashot Haykazun Grigoryan written in recent years. Among them were the books presenting the works of the Istanbul-Armenian Palyan architects, the Italian-Armenian architect Levon Kyureghian, the talented Soviet-Armenian architect Romeo Julhakyan, as well as “Armenian Christian Architecture and the Influence of Pre-Christian Culture”. “Handaberd Monastery and Its Excavations” was also gifted by Artsakh Heritage Research Group.

Father Hamazasp Keshishyan, responsible for the Mekhitarist Congregation Lavra in San Lazzaro Island, gifted the magnificent publication “Armenian Miniatures” and the prayer book “I Confess with Faith” by St. Nerses Shnorhali, translated into eighteen languages, as a gift from his side.