DOCUMENTATION OF MONUMENTS
In accordance with an agreement annually signed with the RA Ministry of Culture (now: Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports) since 2010, the members of the foundation continued the documentation of historical monuments: instead of 370, 374 questionnaires were prepared, all presenting the monuments of the renowned city site of Ani. In total, the number of the documented Armenian monuments is now 6,132, including 862 monuments from the Armenian settlements of India.
RESEARCH TRIPS
In 2024 the RAA members made two trips to Armenia Maior.
Studies of monuments were also carried out in the Republic of Armenia.
PUBLICATIONS
- Boon Aghvank (Caucasian Albania) by Samvel Karapetian, vol. 1 (in Armenian): prepared for publication and published with the financial support of the RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports;
- The Inscriptions of the Major Armenian Settlements of India (in Armenian) by Raffi Kortoshian: prepared for publication and published with the financial support of the RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports;
- A State Policy of Vandalism in Azerbaijan (in English), booklet by Raffi Kortoshian: published on the initiative of Bishop Vrtanes Abrahamian, Prelate of Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church; publication sponsor: Artsakh Ethno-Cultural Centre of the Armenian National Cultural Autonomy of Krasnodar Territory;
- Azerbaijan and the Destruction of Armenian Civilization (in English), an illustrated album by Samvel Karapetian: prepared for publication with the financial support of RAA/USA; publication sponsor: RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports;
- Khojivank (in Armenian) by Samvel Karapetian: prepared for publication with the financial support of RAA/USA and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; publication sponsor: RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports;
- Hambardzum Yeramian (in Armenian) by Samvel Karapetian: prepared for publication with the financial support of RAA/USA and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; publication sponsor: RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports;
- Vardzk nos. 19 and 20;
- Calendar of 2025 called “Khachkars (Cross-Stones) of Artsakh”.
3D MODELLING
During 2024, for the preparation of the RAA book Ani: 3D Modelling, 3D views and images were created for the following monuments of the city site: the Domed Church of the Citadel, the Rock-Cut Church as well as the churches of Bakhtaghek, Sourb Prkich (Holy Saviour), and Kusanats Convent.
The RAA specialists also updated the 3D image of the church of Artsvaber on the basis of a newly discovered photo. Besides, taking into account some recently found architectural descriptions, they improved the 3D view of the Triumphal Arch of Horomos.
Our team started and completed the 3D modelling of the door of Sourb Karapet (Holy Forerunner) Monastery of Moush.
WEBSITES AND PROGRAMMING
During 2024, the websites raa-am.org, artsakhmonuments.org and armenianarchitecture.org were enriched with further information and new data.
The RAA members started the testing of a new programme for the preparation of indexes (lists of personal names, toponyms, and subject lists).
The RAA specialists continued the construction of a thesaurus of internal use which is going to be a database of unique videos mostly taken during research trips in Western Armenia.
The foundation has begun programming work for facilitating the use of its library collection.
CURRENT ACTIVITIES AND FORTHCOMING BOOKS
One of the most important aspects of the activities of the foundation is, indeed, the collection of information relating to historical Armenian villages, towns and monuments from the Armenian periodic press as well as from various published and unpublished sources (such as archive documents kept in the Armenian National Archives, the Matenadaran /Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts/, and the Museum of Art and Literature after Yeghishe Charents). Such information is also collected from foreign publications (currently the foundation is particularly translating Turkish texts into Armenian), thanks to which, the RAA’s unique archives are daily enriched with data relating to any place or monument in Historical Armenia. There is also ample information concerning the settlements of the Armenian Diaspora.
In 2024 the RAA specialists continued finalizing the plans and measurements (using Archicad-20) drafted during research trips. We also updated the map of our research trips.
Based on photographs and material collected during fieldwork, our specialists improved and updated the technical drawings needed for the 3D modelling of Ani’s Kusanats Convent and Sourb Prkich (Holy Saviour) Church, the triumphal arch of Horomos and the church of Artsvaber.
We continued compiling lists of inhabited places and historical-architectural monuments of Boon Aghvank (or Caucasian Albania, including Aghsu, Yevlakh, Zakatala, Ismayili, Kakh and Kutkashen Districts) with accurate geographical coordinates.
During the year, the RAA specialists were actively involved in the preparation of different scientific works as well as the journal Vardzk.
We continued the translation of the journal from Armenian into Russian.
On the basis of the videos taken during our research trip to India in 2011, we produced a film entitled “India: Searching for Remnants of Armenian Heritage.”
Also, important work was carried out for arranging and classifying the archives of Armen Hakhnazarian, RAA Founding Director.
We continue the registration, cataloging and sealing of the books in our library collection.
IMAGE DIGITIZATION
In 2024 image digitization activities went on, thanks to which, at the end of the year, the total number of digitized images in the RAA database reached 699,250.
GRANTS
To promote the RAA activities, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation provided us with a grant of € 10,000 for 2024 and 2025.
PARTNERSHIP
Cooperation with the RA Governmental Institutions
Working with HayPost, we issued the first series of stamps entitled Cultural Crime: the stamps are dedicated to St. Hovhannes (John) Church of Shushi City in Artsakh.
Cooperation with Non-Governmental Institutions
Collaborating with Save Armenian Monuments Organization and JHM Foundation (Los Angeles), the RAA members Ashot Hakobian (architect) and Raffi Kortoshian took part in the development of a restoration project for St. Hripsime Church of Khendzoresk Village, Syunik Region, RA.
In 2024 the RAA and the international platform Metaport.al entered into cooperation, thanks to which, the materials of the RAA websites www.armenaianarchitecture.org and www.artsakhmonuments.org were posted on this platform: it was enriched with information and over 13,500 photos relating to more than 10,500 monuments of the Armenian Highland and the settlements of the Armenian Diaspora.
The RAA has had some cooperation with Geghard Scientific Analytical Foundation, the director of which, Robert Ghazarian, has offered to jointly publish a book on the endangered Armenian heritage under Azerbaijani control.
The RAA also worked with Tufenkian Charitable Foundation.
Assistance to Different Organizations
The RAA has provided various materials relating to endangered Armenian monuments to Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Diplomatic School of Armenia, the UNESCO Department of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the History Museum of Armenia, etc.
EXCHANGE AND DONATION OF BOOKS
The French senator Brigit Deveza was given Raffi Kortoshian’s book, The Endangered Christian Armenian Heritage of Artsakh, as a gift.
Isber Sabrine, President and Co-Founder of the Spanish organization Heritage for Peace, was given S. Karapetian’s book, Azerbaijan and the Destruction of Armenian Civilization.
Different publications of the RAA were given to Tufenkian and Geghard Foundations, Save Armenian Monuments Organization, the Diplomatic School of Armenia, the UNESCO Department of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as to various libraries, organizations and intellectuals.
In return for these gifts, the RAA received numerous books.
The RAA library has been enriched with an encyclopedia entitled World Architecture (in Russian) as well as almost all the issues of the Azgagrakan Handes (Ethnographical Journal) published between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
PRESENTATIONS
At the initiative of the History Faculty of Yerevan State University and Research on Armenian Architecture (RAA) Foundation, on 21 November 2024, an event was held in the History Faculty to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the establishment of the RAA (1969 to 2024).
The event which was also attended (among others) by Ms. Nilakshi Saha Sinha, Ambassador of India to Armenia, featured the presentation of R. Kortoshian’s work entitled The Inscriptions of the Major Armenian Settlements of India. Those present also watched the RAA documentary entitled “India: Searching for Remnants of Armenian Heritage”.
SCIENTIFIC AND PRESS CONFERENCES, LECTURES, MEETINGS
- In January 2024, R. Kortoshian and Jora Manoucharian, President of RAA/USA, took part (via the Zoom platform) in a conference of pan-Armenian organizations engaged in efforts for the preservation of the monuments of Artsakh. The former made a report on the RAA activities and presented the illustrated album entitled Artsakh: Endangered Heritage.
- On 31 May 2024, the RAA architect Ashot Hakobian participated in an international conference, “The Archaeological School of Ani,” organized by the History Museum of Armenia. He made a report entitled “New Discoveries in Ani,” with 3D modelling scenes by Pargev Frankian.
- In July R. Kortoshian delivered several lectures within a programme of training for Diasporan Armenian teachers held by the RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, and Yerevan Pedagogical University. The lectures had the following titles: “The Activities of the RAA Foundation,” “Research into Endangered Armenian Monuments,” “The State of Armenian Monuments in Azerbaijan and Turkey,” and “Manifestations of Hatred of Khachkars (Cross-Stones) in Turkey.”
- On 22 July, R. Kortoshian attended a consultation held by the Republic of Armenia’s Commissioner of Diaspora to discuss issues relating to the legal protection of Armenian monuments. Kortoshian shared the RAA’s viewpoint and experience regarding the subject.
- On 28 September, during an online conference held via the ZOOM platform by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), within the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Lecture Series on Contemporary Armenian Issues, R. Kortoshian presented the English publication of S. Karapetian’s book, Azerbaijan and the Destruction of Armenian Civilization (editors: Christina Maranci, Professor at the Chair of Armenian Studies after Mashtots at Harvard University, Rachel Goshgarian, History Professor at Lafayette College, and R. Kortoshian, RAA Vice-Director). Among those present was Jora Manoucharian, President of RAA/USA.
- On 2 November, R. Kortoshian had a meeting with Isber Sabrine, President and Co-Founder of the Spanish organization Heritage for Peace, to discuss opportunities of cooperation.
- During a scientific conference entitled “The Silent Witnesses of History” and held in the house-museum of Avetik Isahakian from 5 till 6 November 2024 (organizers: Hishatakaran Organization, and National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO), Paris), R. Kortoshian made a report titled “Azerbaijan and the Destruction of Armenian Civilization.” Among the participants were also Philip Advani, Foundation President of INALCO Foundation, Xavier Richard, a representative of the embassy of France in Armenia, Bishop Vrtanes Abrahamian, Prelate of Artsakh Diocese, Anna Leyloyan-Yekmalian, Director of Hishatakaran Organization, representatives of the RA Ministries of Foreign Affairs, and of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, etc.
- On 6 November, R. Kortoshian participated in a closed-door meeting of the Supreme Spiritual Council of the Holy See of Echmiatsin, during which he made a report entitled “Azerbaijan and the Destruction of Armenian Civilization.”
- On 21 November, the History Faculty of Yerevan State University hosted an event celebrating the 55th anniversary of the establishment of the RAA (1969 to 2024). R. Kortoshian presented his work entitled The Inscriptions of the Major Armenian Settlements of India, and those present watched the RAA documentary entitled “India: Searching for Remnants of Armenian Heritage.”
- On 28 November, R. Kortoshian took part in an international conference entitled “The Preservation and Repairs of Cultural Monuments through the Application of Modern Technologies.”
During the year, the RAA members also participated in some press conferences and gave interviews the main subject of which was the condition of monuments in the Azerbaijani-occupied lands of Artsakh as well as the RAA activities, websites and publications of 2024.
AWARDS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In May 2023, R. Kortoshian’s book, The Endangered Christian Armenian Heritage of Artsakh, was selected as one of the fifteen books nominated for the Ronald F. Inglehart Best Book Award on Political Culture and Values (held by the World Values Survey Association).
On 28 December 2024, the RAA’s Vice-Director Ashot Hakobian received a Note of Acknowledgement from the History Museum of Armenia for the foundation’s contribution to, and cooperation with, the museum.
SAMVEL KARAPETIAN’s BOOK, THE MICROTOPONYMS OF ARTSAKH, AN INSPIRATION FOR RUGS
Motivated and guided by The Microtoponyms of Artsakh by S. Karapetian, the well-known artist Davit Kochunts, in cooperation with Nairi Khachaturian, designed 7 rugs on the basis of the topographic maps of the book showing Mataghis, Tigranakert, Dadivank, Berdzor, Charektar and Shushi. Made thanks to the efforts of AHA Collective, the Golden Apricot Festival Organizers, and Ararat Museum, these rugs replaced the Red Carpet during the Golden Apricot International Film Festival hosted by Karen Demirjian Sports and Concerts Complex, Yerevan, on 7 July 2024. The rugs will be shown at an international festival in Paris (Un Week-end à l’Est), and in the Art Gallery Crous de Paris.
NEW OFFICE BUILDING FOR RAA ARMENIA
In 2024 we completed the repairs of the RAA new office building (Nikol Duman 16/1 Yerevan, RA) and furnished it with the necessary equipment. This work of the utmost importance became possible thanks to the great support of the RAA/USA, and all major sponsors and supporters.
The lecture hall in the new office building has been named in honour of the RAA Founding Director, Doctor of Architecture Armen Hakhnazarian. The library has been named after the meritorious monumentologist Samvel Karapetian.