Armenian Genocide Museums of America and Armenia sign cooperation agreement
The Armenian Genocide Museum of America (AGMA) and the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI) at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex in Yerevan, Armenia, announced the signing in Yerevan of a permanent agreement based upon their common goals. The agreement anticipates the sharing of resources and expertise, the integration of museum activities, and the promotion of each other's programs and projects.
The agreement reached between Dr. Hayk Demoyan, AGMI Director, Hirair Hovnanian, AGMA Board of Trustees chairman, and Van Z. Krikorian, AGMA Trustee and Building and Operations Committee chairman, envisions a permanent association to allow both museums to coordinate plans and to learn from each other's experience in developing exhibits and other presentations on the Armenian Genocide.
Since AGMI's opening in 1995, the museum and the adjoining institute at the Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex in Armenia have emerged as the principal repository of resources and information about the Armenian Genocide. The memorial is of international significance as the site visited by foreign dignitaries who come to pay tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide. The laying of a wreath at the memorial and a tour of the museum are a customary part of official visits to Armenia. Many heads of state and their delegations have walked through the memorial complex and have taken occasion to speak about the importance of remembrance and the commitment to tolerance.
Part of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, AGMI, which functions as a research center, is also dedicated to the objective of collecting the visual, textual, and artifactual evidence on the life of the Armenian people once living in the Ottoman Empire. In addition to managing the museum facility and maintaining the memorial complex in the heart of Yerevan, AGMI also organizes international conferences, publishes documentation and studies on the Armenian Genocide, and runs a major Website that posts news on developments in the international affirmation of the Armenian Genocide, announces publications in the field of genocide studies, and releases newly uncovered documentation through its research programs. The Websites of the two museums will be linked, as well as oral history projects and resources.
The Armenian Genocide Museum of America is an outgrowth of the Armenian Assembly of America and the Armenian National Institute (ANI), catalyzed by a foundational grant from Anoush Mathevosian for the purpose of establishing an Armenian Genocide museum in Washington, D.C. The Armenian Assembly has championed the cause of affirmation with legislative and executive branches of the American government, while ANI has served as a research facility documenting the Armenian Genocide on the basis of the United States archives and other records. ANI is presently also providing coordination for AGMA planning and exhibit designing.
The cooperative agreement was reached in the framework of the AGMI's mission, which is shared by the Armenian Genocide Museum of America, to educate a wider public about the extent of the crimes committed against the Armenian people during the First World War and the long-lasting effects and consequences of the gross human rights violations of that era. The agreement was finalized after months of discussions and informal cooperation and assistance from AGMI to AGMA as it progresses toward opening. AGMA publicly thanks AGMI and Dr. Hayk Demoyan for the help he has provided these past months.
As the first major institution in the Armenian diaspora dedicated to preserving and honoring the memory of the victims and survivors of the Armenian Genocide, AGMA will offer interactive exhibits and educational programs incorporating the latest scholarship with state-of-the art technology. AGMA will be a place for reflection, where memories and emotions can be confronted in an environment filled with hope, inspiration and a commitment to eradicate the scourge of genocide and stopping other atrocities against humankind.
The museum in Washington has already been granted project approval and planners have completed the schematic design phase of the exhibits. The endorsement by a District of Columbia preservation review board of restoration plans for the historically-designated building, which will house the museum, and the completion of exhibit schematic designs, concluded the second phase of the museum planning, which was inaugurated in November 2007. Phase one planning began in August 2007. AGMA is now entering the third phase of development and the museum is scheduled to open in 2010.
The agreement reached between Dr. Hayk Demoyan, AGMI Director, Hirair Hovnanian, AGMA Board of Trustees chairman, and Van Z. Krikorian, AGMA Trustee and Building and Operations Committee chairman, envisions a permanent association to allow both museums to coordinate plans and to learn from each other's experience in developing exhibits and other presentations on the Armenian Genocide.
Since AGMI's opening in 1995, the museum and the adjoining institute at the Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex in Armenia have emerged as the principal repository of resources and information about the Armenian Genocide. The memorial is of international significance as the site visited by foreign dignitaries who come to pay tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide. The laying of a wreath at the memorial and a tour of the museum are a customary part of official visits to Armenia. Many heads of state and their delegations have walked through the memorial complex and have taken occasion to speak about the importance of remembrance and the commitment to tolerance.
Part of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, AGMI, which functions as a research center, is also dedicated to the objective of collecting the visual, textual, and artifactual evidence on the life of the Armenian people once living in the Ottoman Empire. In addition to managing the museum facility and maintaining the memorial complex in the heart of Yerevan, AGMI also organizes international conferences, publishes documentation and studies on the Armenian Genocide, and runs a major Website that posts news on developments in the international affirmation of the Armenian Genocide, announces publications in the field of genocide studies, and releases newly uncovered documentation through its research programs. The Websites of the two museums will be linked, as well as oral history projects and resources.
The Armenian Genocide Museum of America is an outgrowth of the Armenian Assembly of America and the Armenian National Institute (ANI), catalyzed by a foundational grant from Anoush Mathevosian for the purpose of establishing an Armenian Genocide museum in Washington, D.C. The Armenian Assembly has championed the cause of affirmation with legislative and executive branches of the American government, while ANI has served as a research facility documenting the Armenian Genocide on the basis of the United States archives and other records. ANI is presently also providing coordination for AGMA planning and exhibit designing.
The cooperative agreement was reached in the framework of the AGMI's mission, which is shared by the Armenian Genocide Museum of America, to educate a wider public about the extent of the crimes committed against the Armenian people during the First World War and the long-lasting effects and consequences of the gross human rights violations of that era. The agreement was finalized after months of discussions and informal cooperation and assistance from AGMI to AGMA as it progresses toward opening. AGMA publicly thanks AGMI and Dr. Hayk Demoyan for the help he has provided these past months.
As the first major institution in the Armenian diaspora dedicated to preserving and honoring the memory of the victims and survivors of the Armenian Genocide, AGMA will offer interactive exhibits and educational programs incorporating the latest scholarship with state-of-the art technology. AGMA will be a place for reflection, where memories and emotions can be confronted in an environment filled with hope, inspiration and a commitment to eradicate the scourge of genocide and stopping other atrocities against humankind.
The museum in Washington has already been granted project approval and planners have completed the schematic design phase of the exhibits. The endorsement by a District of Columbia preservation review board of restoration plans for the historically-designated building, which will house the museum, and the completion of exhibit schematic designs, concluded the second phase of the museum planning, which was inaugurated in November 2007. Phase one planning began in August 2007. AGMA is now entering the third phase of development and the museum is scheduled to open in 2010.
