Artsakh's "richness" is being exported
Artsakh's cultural heritage is being exported from the republic instead of staying in the museums.
Director of the Historical-Patriotic Museum after Artur Mkrtchyan in Hadrut, Liana Petrosyan says the main reason for that is lack of funding. According to her, unlike the samples found after archaeological excavations that are under the government's supervision, museums are not able to obtain the donated items.
"Many locals bring exclusive silver ornaments like belts or bracelets to the museum and, of course, they demand money for that. We tell them that the museum is still not capable of paying them and express regret in order for them to not export the items," said Petrosyan.
Sometimes people bring items that nobody is aware of. "Once, they brought a valuable book about the history of Hadrut. They told me that if the museum didn't pay for the book, they would not give it to the museum," says the director and regretted that the museum had not been able to obtain the book.
Liana Petrosyan also indicated that museums of Artsakh also face the serious issue of preserving samples. "We have appealed several times for the poor building conditions and the addition of new samples and we have been told that there is lack of funding. But we have been promised that the museum may be renovated a little," said Petrosyan.
According to the museum director, this fortunately doesn't reduce the number of visitors. The museum had 2,000 visitors in the first semester of this year alone.
The Historical-Patriotic Museum after Mkrtchyan currently features samples showing the foundation of Hadrut and documents about the Karabakh movement.
