Epress.am News from Armenia
The Public Council’s culture commission yesterday began to discuss a project to build a life-size Noah’s Ark with a surface area of 10,000 square meters in Yerevan’s Victory Park.
As reported by local daily Haykakan Jamanak (“Armenian Times”), the commission very quickly gave the green light to the project. The ark is expected to be built according to the measurements noted in the Bible: a wooden structure 132–157 meters in length, 24–30 meters wide and 13–20 meters high. The first floor will be a museum which will house life-size models of the 8 humans and 120 pairs of animals said to have boarded the vessel in the Biblical narrative. There will also be observation binoculars to get a closer look at Mount Ararat, Yerevan or the open sky.
The newspaper notes that the building project seems quite ambitious. “To show the world that after the Great Flood, the rebirth of humanity began from the heart of the Armenian world — Mount Ararat,” said Armare director Martun Harutyunyan, one of the people behind the project, during its presentation.
“This structure will be unique in the world — it will be dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Great Catastrophe [the Armenian Genocide] and will belong to humanity,” he added.
Asked what he means when he says “belong to humanity,” Harutyunyan said: “That is… how can I explain it to you? That is, it will be a universal structure.”
However, at the discussion, not everyone was excited about the project.
“I fear that in the implementation of this project that small green space will be eliminated,” said art critic Levon Lachikyan.
Also opposed to the project was National Gallery of Armenia museum director Paravon Mirzoyan. “Our country today has so many problems, so many pains. People live in caravans [makeshift houses]; they don’t have money for food — do you understand?
“There isn’t a proper museum building in the country. An American or someone came, advised building a Noah’s Ark, for us to fill it with animals — we’re all overjoyed. Listen, now is not the time for that… When I sometimes see the state of people living in the Gyumri or Vanadzor region, to tell the truth, I’m surprised that we build so many churches today. Spending all that money for what? For an American to come, see that Noah is sitting at the foot of Ararat? It’s not right. See, we make decisions — they removed the kiosks on Abovyan Ave. And what did they do? They moved them someplace else. When a decision is made, it must be considered, why is it being made?”
Architect Levon Igityan, in turn defending the project, said, “We at least have to be the first in doing something and not allow our values to be taken away from us — just as they took lavash and harissa.”
“Our people, we, are the owners of Noah’s Ark. [Mount] Ararat today isn’t on our side [of the border], but we hope that we’ll live to see it on our side. The truth is this should’ve been built on Mount Ararat. But we don’t have this option now. Why do we allow everyone to get ahead of us and own what is ours? The Turks will build it, they will do it, they will become the owners of Noah’s [Ark], this is the problem,” said publicist Meruzhan Ter-Gulanyan, also behind the project, at the discussion.