When I was 6 years old, my parents took me to Moscow for the first time and showed the Red Square in Moscow. I immediately noticed that the Lenin Square in Yerevan is more beautiful, and my parents agreed with me. I must say what I do not like in the main square of the former Soviet country: the spotted colors of Vasily Yeranely (Blissful) Cathedral, the huge queue at Lenin mausoleum, as well as the scaffold representing a specimen of the museum.
You cannot see all those in Lenin (Republic) Square, there is warmth of the tuff, there are fountains, there was a statue of Lenin that did not bother anyone and, just the contrary, as a highly artistic piece of work it was beautifying the square. Nevertheless, ANM Revolutionary Party found a “hostile ideology” in the statue and decided to destroy it. However, the revolution has long been over, and now it is very logical to keep, if you want “to tin” anything that refers to our historical memory. Probably, a revolution is needed in civic consciousness, state procedures, economy and politics, but Tumanyan, Komitas, Tamanyan do not need “repair” and “modernization”.
The City Hall has announced an architectural competition regarding the Republican Square, and as far as the case was initiated by Narek Sargsyan, who at least has given disputable solutions to many urban issues, the doubts are inevitable. What is the matter about? If Lenin’s statue is going to be replaced with, let’s say, Garegin Nzhdeh’s statue, then I would advise you not to hurry: tomorrow another party will be in power, which, is not excluded, will be far from the ideology of Nzhdeh and will not have the same approaches as Taron and will decide to destroy the statue. If the problem is to place a dome on the government building, it reminds me adding a sample of pop music to “The song of plow of Lori” of Komitas. Finally, before building an underground parking under the square, again, I would advise you to inquire as to how many people daily use the parking station under the Freedom Square: is was a waste of money.
I hope that reformation of any building in the Republic Square is not included in the “vision” of Armenian architects. We already destroyed and deformed much without any reason. For example, the Youth Palace or “Dvin” hotel.
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…. At the end, one more memory. Years ago, our compatriot Michael Tariverdiev was hosted in Yerevan. The composer was a part of our television broadcasts, where there were also musicians. One of them was a woman who was constantly coming to the piano and going back to the table. Every time when the woman was approaching the table, Tariverdiev was getting up and correcting her chair. In my opinion, this is the urban culture. And not the skyscrapers.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
