NEW YORK — This past week, two major cultural institutions in the US, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the J. Paul Getty Trust, issued statements urging the protection of cultural sites in Artsakh.
Dan Weiss, President and CEO, and Max Hollein, Director of the Metropolitan museum, in a statement wrote:
“The recent bloodshed and destruction in the Nagorno-Karabakh region is a global tragedy of grave concern to us all. In addition to our plea and hope for the violence to stop, as museum leaders we urge that cultural heritage sites be protected.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is dedicated to preserving and exhibiting human creativity of over 5,000 years from across the globe. As the organizer and host of the Armenia! exhibition in 2018—which was the first major exhibition to explore the remarkable artistic and cultural achievements of the Armenian people in a global context over fourteen centuries—we have watched in horror and sadness at the recent violence and bloodshed in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
We implore all those involved to respect these international cultural heritage sites, which enrich our world and have survived for thousands of years. The loss of cultural heritage sites is permanent, and is a grievous theft from future generations.”
In addition, the J. Paul Getty Trust in a statement put the preservation in a historic context, noting:
