Vagharshapat: $166,000 from the United States to save sculptor Khoren Der Harootian’s museum
- Published
- Place
- Vagharshapat, Armenia
- Event date
- Past event —
Summary
The United States is providing $166,000 to renovate the Khoren Der Harootian Memorial Museum in Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin), dedicated to the Armenian-American sculptor and painter. The project was launched on 10 November by Griffin Rozell, Public Affairs Officer at the US Embassy, and Alfred Kocharyan, Armenia’s Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports. Funded through the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), it covers renovation of the building, restoration of its two exhibition floors and better preservation conditions for the collection’s 261 works. Washington links it to the celebrations of America’s 250th anniversary. Since 2005, the AFCP has allocated about $1.84 million to 16 projects in Armenia.
The museum bears the name of a man whose journey ran the opposite way from many Armenians of his generation. Born in 1909 in Ashodavan, Khoren Der Harootian left as a child after the genocide. His father, a priest, and 22 relatives were killed. In 1921 he reached the United States with his mother and sisters.
Six decades later, in 1983, he donated most of his work to the Armenian people. That collection, now 261 works, is what the American project is meant to protect.
What the $166,000 will pay for
According to the US Embassy’s press release, the money will go to renovating the building, restoring its two exhibition floors and improving the conservation and display of the works. The stated aim is to protect the collection in the long term and give visitors a better experience.
The funding comes from the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, set up by the State Department in 2001. This year, to mark America’s 250th anniversary, it is prioritising heritage sites with a direct connection to the United States. An Armenian-American sculptor in the city of Etchmiadzin Cathedral ticks every box.
From Jamaica to Philadelphia
Khoren Der Harootian’s life reads like a novel. He began painting at high school in Worcester, Massachusetts. He then went to Jamaica, where he fell in love with sculpture and carved the island’s hardwoods. Back in New York, he devoted himself to stone and marble.
His works entered the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum in New York. He exhibited in London, Florence, Paris and, in 1971, Yerevan. In Philadelphia he carved “The Scientist” in granite for the Samuel Memorial in Fairmount Park. For the American Bicentennial he created a 22-foot bronze Meher, which stands in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 1984 he received the Martiros Saryan Medal from the Soviet Armenian government. He died in February 1991 in a car accident in New York.
Sixteen projects in twenty years
This is not the AFCP’s first project in Armenia. The fund has already supported restoration of the frescoes of St Hovhannes Church in Meghri, conservation of the Yereruyk Basilica in Shirak, stabilisation of Dashtadem Fortress, the Areni cave and murals in Gyumri by Rafayel Atoyan and Hakob Hakobyan.
Analysis
The sum is modest; the symbolism is not. Washington has chosen an artist whose life tells the story of the diaspora on its own: a survivor who became a recognised American sculptor, then gave his work to Armenia. By tying him to America’s 250th anniversary, the embassy speaks to Armenian Americans as much as to Armenians. For Vagharshapat, a city visited mainly for its churches, it is also a chance to showcase a modern art museum many visitors overlook. Neither the duration of the works nor any closure of the museum has been specified.
Possible consequences
The works are to cover the building, the two exhibition floors and the collection’s preservation conditions. No timetable for the works has been released.
