NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ARCHITECTURE AND CONSTRUCTION OF ARMENIA

The competition named in the memory of the Lithuanian historian and art critic Jurgis Baltrušaitis is traditionally being held for already the fourth year. The only obstacle this year, perhaps, was the remote format of the presentation of projects, discussion and work of the commission.

It is worth mentioning that the competition named after Baltrušaitis has commenced since 2017 with the joint efforts of the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in the Republic of Armenia, the National University of Architecture and Construction of Armenia and “Petros Aloyan” Foundation. Award in the category “Preservation and Restoration of Historical-Architectural Heritage” is given each year to the author of the best graduation work of the Faculty of Architecture.

Today was the final stage of the competition and the award ceremony, which was attended online by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Lithuania to the Republic of Armenia H. E. Mrs. Inga Stanytė-Toločkienė, NUACA Rector Mr. Yeghiazar Vardanyan, President of “Petros Aloyan” Foundation Mr. Hayk Aloyan, NUACA Vice-Rectors, Heads of the Chairs of the Faculty of Architecture, the President of the RA Chamber of Architects Mr. Mkrtich Minasyan, and the students, who had reached the final stage of the competition.

After the mutual greetings, the content of which dealt with the painful and urgent circumstances of the endangered or lost Armenian rich historical and cultural heritage, as well as the pro-Armenian activities of Jurgis Baltrušaitis, in particular, the presentation of the Armenian translation of the essay “Jugha on the Bank of the River Araks and Its Funerary Monuments” organized in the Matenadaran conference hall in December 2015, which was again conducted as a result of joint efforts of the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in the Republic of Armenia and the National University of Architecture and Construction of Armenia.

Thus, in the final stage of the competition, second-year graduate students of the Faculty of Architecture Ani Harutyunyan, Anna Karamyan, and Vahram Aghajanyan, competed for the Baltrušaitis Award. This year, the topic of the nominees’ final projects was the restoration of the Mekhitarist Monastery on St. Lazarus Island in Venice in the context of the integration of new buildings.

After discussions, the members of the commission, chaired by Mkrtich Minasyan, decided the winner. The winner of the Baltrušaitis Award this year is Anna Karamyan, and the winner’s prize is, traditionally, the full payment of the tuition fee for the second semester of the last year of the Master’s program.