Robert Dietrich

Hope everything is well with you all.  It’s funny the way that you stumble across things here.  I was finishing up a meeting with some local artists from the arts school that will be participating in our new “Armenian Artists Direct” store to be located in the lobby of the largest local hotel complex, Harsnaqar.  On the way out, one of the artists suggested that I visit the Sevan Museum, which was one floor up from the school.  I hadn’t heard of any such thing, and so I thought I’d go ahead and take a chance.  Upon entering, I felt really overwhelmed.  The place is full of items that have been found over the years through professionally organized excavations, chance finds, etc. – items dating back thousands of years.  There are daggers, swords, coins, pottery, tools – just about everything you can imagine.  Stuff that you might see at the MET or the Natural History Museum in NYC (behind six-inch thick plexiglass in climate controlled environments with hardcore security systems in place).  Apparently they have stockpiles of the stuff just sitting “somewhere” awaiting the day when they have an “aveli lav der” (a better place) to showcase the – and I can’t think of a better word – treasures.  I included some pictures of a few of the items they have on display:

I’m going to try and write UNESCO about maybe offering them some technical assistance on how to better preserve what they have, store it and display it.  And some financial assistance wouldn’t hurt, to be sure.  This place would be a huge draw for tourists, if we can get a few improvements in place, not to mention a more secure environment for showcasing their artifacts.  It’s amazing how you just stumble on things like this here; it reminds you of just how old this area really is.

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