“History of ‘Zvartnots’ is a dark forest for me”
“Today we are thinking how to protect the old building of ‘Zvartnots’ airport from the state,” today announced Mkrtich Minasyan, President of the Union of Architects, and assured that the Municipality had no right to grant permission to the concessionaire for demolition of the tower, “The tower may be demolished after discussions. Before demolishing we must know what will be the result, what kind of activities will be carried out. The concessionaire must have used it and return after 30 years in the same state, and not to announce that it has exhausted itself. This building is a great value, it is not a booth to be demolished.” Mkrtich Minasyan tried meeting with the architects of the concessionaire in order to discuss the issue, but he wasn’t given an opportunity. The president of the Union of Architects is sure that though a decision has been made on demolition of the old tower, the experience shows that after the first step the whole building is demolished. Head of the Puppet Theatre Ruben Babayan noted that the legal bases of this whole process aren’t known, “All this is a dark forest for me. It isn’t known what kind of agreements there are, by whom they were given, how and who carried out responsibilities and who didn’t.” He is sure that the old building of “Zvartnots” airport is not only cultural but also historical value for our country, “It is difficult to explain what a cultural value is to those with whom we negotiate, as the luxurious house on Ashtarak highway is a cultural value for them, or toilet doors carved with eagles and lions. But we shouldn’t forget that during Spitak earthquake, it became a humanitarian center and created a page in history. To demolish that building means demolishing our history,” he states.
