House Museums of Armenia

Travel Wire YEREVAN, ARMENIA Entrance and courtyard to Isahakyan House Museum of Gyumri (© K. Vrtanesyan) In 1979 a most honored guest, the Armenian-American writer William Saroyan (1908-1981), paid us a visit here in Gyumri (known then as Leninakan), proudly declared Susanna Mnasaganyan, Director of the Isahakyan House Museum of Gyumri. When he saw Isahakyan’s desk, he knelt before it, kissed it and said, “Bury me here!” Lyric poet, Avetik Sahak Isahakyan, who earned the respect of his nation and whose career was long and prolific, is honored with two house museums....

Travel Wire YEREVAN, ARMENIA Display of ancient earthenware and carpets located on the First Floor To keep the promise that I had made to the museum (and myself), I returned to the National Folk Art Museum of Armenia that I had visited in October a year ago. Located at 64 Abovian Street, it is a short cab ride - or a healthy stroll uphill (if one is predisposed on a sunny autumn day) from Republic Square to the end of Abovian Street....

Travel Wire GYUMRI, ARMENIA ‘The alien world will give you no shack. But even if it gives a palace under the sun, If you do not have a hut in your homeland, You are still a forgotten orphan under a foreign moon.’* – Hovhannes Shiraz Great niece of H. Shiraz, Narineh Khachadurian (© K. Vrtanesyan) In May 2003 I was browsing through a commemorative publication of the Alex and Marie Manoogian Museum while waiting outside the office of His Holiness Karekin II in Etchmiadzin....

Travel Wire Armenian Church in Brussels (© R. Bedevian) On our most recent trip to Armenia my husband and I made a stop over in Brussels before returning to the USA. Our taxi cab turned right onto Kindermonstraat and with no trouble at all we found Eglise Armenienne Apostolique Sainte Marie-Madeleine. Father Mesrob Barsamian, ordained in Holy Etchmiadzin and a former staff bearer for His Holiness Karekin II, was the guest celebrant....

Travel Wire Father Guregh Talian (© K. Vrtanesyan) Standing tall and serene with gentle, yet penetrating eyes, Father Guregh Talian greets me, a visitor from America. Shepherd to his flock for the past nine years, he begins to explain in a soft-spoken manner, ‘Sourb Katoghike (Holy Universal) Church , has 4th century roots. The first structure was destroyed by an earthquake in 1679 and by 1890, the second edifice was finished....

Orbeli Brothers - Illustrious Family, Extradordinary Achievements, Pride of a Nation. Travel Wire TSAGHKADZOR, ARMENIA Orbeli Brothers Monument (© K. Vrtanesyan) Despite the light drizzle of rain and overcast clouds of a late October day, Geraseem and Marineh Megerdichian stood on the portico of the Orbeli Brothers’ Museum in Tsaghkadzor and eagerly greeted our party of three with warm smiles. Before we introduced ourselves, Marineh candidly revealed her curiosity and queried, ‘What is your interest in the Orbeli brothers and why have you come here today?...

Travel Wire YEREVAN, ARMENIA Where and how did Modern Armenian Literature and public education come about after centuries of feudal life? This thought kept hovering over me as I continued my visits to Armenian authors’ house museums in Armenia. Where did these authors go to school? Who were their teachers? In turn, who did these authors educate and what contributions did they make? With these queries, I share this cursory and modest extraction of what I have come to appreciate as a third generation Armenian-American....

EDUCATOR AND POET WHO IMPACTED GENERATIONS - HOVHANNES HOVHANNESYAN Travel Wire ETCHMIADZIN, ARMENIA It was a sunny day with a perfect dose of April breeze as we alit from our cab at Komitas Square and entered the courtyard of the Hovhannes Hovhannesyan House Museum in Etchmiadzin (formerly Vagharshapat), Armenia. Mariam Maghakian, a veteran docent, introduced herself and invited my friend, Gohar, and me to explore the home. It is somewhat reminiscent of the architecture of the Aksel Bakuntz House Museum in Goris in that it was built in traditional Armenian design of its day with a large wooden porch and thick stone walls....

Travel Wire ASHTARAK, ARMENIA Greeted by the Director, Armida Ghambaryan, and resident docent, Evelina Ghornakchyan, my friend Gohar and I, were treated to a first class tour of the Perj Proshyan House Museum at 4 Proshyan Street in the delightful town of Ashtarak which extends itself on the banks of the Kasakh River 20 kilometers northwest of Yerevan. Ashtarak, which means ‘Tower’ in Armenian, is the capital of the Aragatsotn Province and has spawned many Armenian luminaries , including, among others, Gevorg Emin, Smpat Shahaziz and the beloved Catholicos Nersess Ashtaraketsi [Nersess V (of Ashtarak) 1843-1857]....

Travel Wire YEREVAN, ARMENIA Antonina Pavilaitite was 21 years old in 1944 studying law in Vilnius University, Lithuania when the Soviet authorities arrested her and sent her to Siberia. It was there in exile that she met and married Gourgen Mahari, another victim who was exiled from Armenia to the GULAG twice in his life (1936-1947) and (1948-1954). Gourgen Mahari is still remembered in Armenia today by those old enough and by youth who have been taught by their parents and grandparents....