By Taleen Babayan
Special to the Mirror-Spectator
NEW YORK — Half a century after St. Vartan Cathedral was consecrated in a special ceremony, marking a symbolic moment in Armenian-American history, the community gathered to toast its 50th anniversary in a cultural program featuring a photo exhibition and sacred music concert on Saturday, May 5.
Honoring the weekend’s celebratory theme of “Promise, Progress, Presence,” the historic photo exhibition, which was unveiled in Yerevan Hall of the Eastern Diocese, delivered a visual journey to guests and traced the cathedral’s presence when the building was still a concept, all the way through its construction and memorable highlights of events and guests.
The exhibition, designed by the New York-based Johanna Goldfeld, offered never-before-seen photographs and detailed informative footnotes, spanning through 60 carefully selected photographs by the organizing committee, including Sandra Shahinian Leitner, Melanie Dadourian and Shoghag Hovanessian. Their collective goal, to depict the cathedral’s influential standing not only among Armenians, but also of the greater New York community and the world at large, was exemplified by the snapshots.