2021 in Review: A Message from Save Armenian Monuments

Since the fall 2020 war on Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), hundreds of Armenian Christian sites are now under the control of Azerbaijan, the same regime that eradicated over 28,000 Armenian artifacts in the Nakhichevan exclave in 1997-2006.

Save Armenian Monuments (SAM) was created immediately after the war to save our holy places.

As we enter 2022, here is an update on some of our activities in 2021, through which we carried out numerous projects at the individual, community, and societal levels to protect and preserve sacred churches, monuments and symbols of our cultural heritage that are in harm’s way.

We created educational puzzles and an activity guide for Armenian schools, currently being used in the Eastern USA, so that young Armenian children can learn about at-risk heritage sites and be instilled with a pride in their culture and desire to preserve Armenian heritage from an early age.

We organized several pilgrimages to Artsakh in an effort to keep Diaspora Armenians engaged with heritage sites and exercise our fundamental human right to worship.

We engaged and financed local authorities, church efforts and indigenous communities, including the youth, in community archeology projects, clean-ups of remote Armenian churches, cemeteries and sacred sites in Artsakh, including that of Hakobavank, Vaghuhas’ Church of Holy Mother of God, and Dahraz’s Saint Virgin Mary.

We partnered in the organizing of the International Religious Freedom and Peace conference at Holy Etchmiadzin, attended by major stakeholders of the Christian world.

We held a strategic planning summit with relevant stakeholders in cultural preservation in Yerevan, and brought together a variety of key actors to find solutions for cultural preservation.

We met with key stakeholders, including the Catholicos of All Armenians and the President of Armenia, to assess the best pathways for saving our monuments.

In exploring mechanisms for the enforcement of Armenians’ religious rights to worship at sacred sites and making broadly accessible reservoirs of information about the heritage sites, we supported the technological modernization of Research on Armenian Architecture, a Yerevan-based NGO that meticulously documents Artsakh’s heritage.

We pursued pathways to gain access to Armenian monuments under Azerbaijan’s control, delivered lectures and participated in panels, published articles in major outlets and discussed the cause of preservation on media platforms.

What we have done is not enough to save Armenian monuments, which is why we need everyone to join the ongoing monumental fight of leaving no stone unturned in saving our holy places.

As we enter 2022, we wish everyone good health and peace.

Founded in 2020, Save Armenian Monuments LLC, a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization and subsidiary of the Eastern Prelacy, pursues the sustained safeguarding of in situ Armenian Christian heritage at risk, in particular protection and awareness-building of at-risk churches, monasteries, gravesites, stone crosses, and other sacred sites and structures located in Artsakh and the wider region, through activities including pilgrimages and education. Headquartered in New York, Save Armenian Monuments operates in collaboration with relevant institutional and individual stakeholders.