Construction at Gandzasar stopped
Coating of tiles on the gates of St. John the Baptist Church or, as the people call it, Gandzasar Church has currently stopped. This is what Head of the NKR Department of Tourism and Monument Preservation Slava Sargsyan told "A1+", adding that activities at Gandzasar had been illegal to begin with.
"They did whatever they wanted to do and it was all agreed upon. We had prohibited such activities in January," said Slava Sargsyan.
According to him, a committee will be formed to take a decision on how to renovate the monastery's gates. The committee, which will include architects from Armenia, will decide what to do with the tiles that have already been coated. Slava Sargsyan says it is still unclear as to when the committee will be formed.
Let us remind that the gates of the 13th century St. John the Baptist Church was being renovated through funding provided by Moscow-based Levon Hayrapetyan from Artsakh. As a result, the church was losing its historical-cultural value. The use of concrete could have served as an obstacle for UNESCO to include the complex in the list of World Cultural Heritage.
Would the construction have stopped if it weren't for the concerns expressed on social networks?
