YEREVAN (news.am) — By a unanimous decision of the United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Executive Board on January 29, the works of the great Armenian cleric, musicologist, composer, arranger, singer, and choirmaster Komitas (Soghomon Soghomonian) will be included in the Memory of the World Register of UNESCO, Nikolay Kostandyan, director of the Komitas Museum-Institute in Yerevan, announced on the same day.
Vahan Kostanyan, the deputy foreign minister, noted that in 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Komitas, was put on UNESCO’s list of the organization’s list of historic events and anniversaries.
“Documentary samples of exceptional value are registered in UNESCO’s Memory of the World international register. The goal of this program is to prevent the loss of archives, libraries and valuable collections existing in the world, and to contribute to their effective preservation and dissemination,” added Kostanyan.
On January 29, RA Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan participated and spoke at the press conference on the occasion of the registration of Komitas Vardapet’s collection of works in the International Memory of the World Register by the unanimous decision of the UNESCO Executive Board—Minister of Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan, Director of Komitas Museum-Institute Nikolay Kostandyan, and others. RA Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan, in his speech in particular, noted.
Kostandyan said the registration of Komitas’ works in the International Register of Memory of the World has been the result of years of joint work between the museum institute, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He also credited Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan who participated in the 42nd session of the UNESCO General Conference, during which time he also raised the issue of UNESCO sending a fact-finding mission to Nagorno Karabakh. In addition, the organization was asked to address the educational needs of forcibly displaced children from Nagorno Karabakh.
