YEREVAN–The National Assembly of Armenia recognized Research on Armenian Architecture NGO, as well as its founder and chairman, Dr. Armen Haghnazarian, and Samvel Karapetyan, the president and managing director of the Yerevan Office, for their tireless contribution towards the research, documentation, archiving, preservation and publication of Armenian historical monumen’s and architectural heritage currently located in the neighboring countries of our homeland.
To that effect, the National Assembly of Armenia awarded RAA and its managers with Certificates of Recognition, as well as gold medals, in appreciation for their work and efforts made in the last three and a half decades. The importance of their work is unquestionable, as a large number of monumen’s surveyed and documented by RAA are now either destroyed or in total ruin and can only be remembered through archival information.
Additionally, the numerous documentary books published in the last few years, which record thousands of Armenian historical monumen’s located in the countries neighboring Armenia, are being used in the current political negotiations with these countries. These books are enduring proof of the Armenian roots and of the fact that Armenia’s flourished in these lands for centuries – indeed, millennia – before the lines were drawn on today’s maps allegedly ceding these lands to their present “owners.”
Although the publication costs are being secured by RAA/USA, in the last 2 years the National Assembly of Armenia, which has recognized the value of these archives and importance of these publications, has begun supporting the activities of RAA by providing special gran’s to accelerate the publication of new books and the translation of existing ones into English and Russian.
The latest volume (No. 11) published under the patronage of Tufenkian and Galust Gulbenkian Foundations is ”Akhaltskha”, which treats the history, and cultural monumen’s of Akhaltskha District situated on the northern borderline of Historical Armenia.
On July 15, 2008, RAA Organization held the presentation of Sirak Sarhadian’s ”Memoirs” book published in Armenian, at the “Yerevan Museum of the Armenian Genocide”. In this ceremony the author’s younger son Arthur Sarhadian was present.
Between July 21 and 27, 2008, RAA participated in a weeklong scientific conference in Yerevan on the topic of “Hamshen Armenia’s” by presenting an exhibition related to Hamshen. Narekatsy Art Centre organized this event, in cooperation with the Yerkir Union of Non-Governmental Organizations and Bagaran NGO.
The year 2008 is also marked with two 30-day research trips to Western Armenia. Overall, RAA has now made 7 scientific expeditions to the lost Armenian homeland.
