KHACHATUR ABOVYAN ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Aksel Bakunts House-Museum in Goris recently hosted the head and professors of the Faculty of Philology. The visit was organized by Professor Suren Danielyan, Head of the Chair of New and Modern Armenian Literature and its Teaching Methods after Vache Partizuni. Bakunts, an Armenian prose writer, translator and public activist, is believed to have been killed on July 8 (1937).

Accompanied by Director of Aksel Bakunts House-Museum Vardan Sargsyan, and senior researcher, Associate Professor Tehmina Marutyan, the guests toured the halls of the museum and listened to episodes about familiar and unfamiliar pages of the writer’s life and activity.

Tehmina Marutyan also presented a vast array of documents related to the exhibition "Discovering the Fate of Bakunts. Family Documents (1945-1956)".

It is no secret that regional libraries are not always equipped with necessary literature. ASPU's Spyurq (Diaspora) Research Center has donated 15 books about art and science to the museum library.

A group of teachers and students of the Darbas village school (in Syunik Province) were also in Aksel Bakunts House-Museum. The ASPU representatives had an active dialogue with them.

On the sidelines of the visit, a roundtable discussion was held at the initiative of Samvel Aleksanyan, editor-in-chief of "Syunyats Yerkir" newspaper, and with the participation of Levon Sahakyan, Head of Syunik branch of the Writers' Union of Armenia. The parties focused on a number of issues, including national identity, preservation of the Armenian language, modern literature and literary studies, school programs, textbooks, etc.

The ASPU representatives also met with the leaders of Goris and Kajaran communities, Arush Arushanyan and Manvel Paramazyan. The next day they visited the Museum of Regional Studies, where, accompanied by researcher Vardan Sargsyan, they got acquainted with unique exhibits, walked around the city center, visited caves and Khndzoresk, a village in Syunik region.

The parties also discussed joint plans to celebrates events dedicated to the 125th anniversary of Aksel Bakunts which will be marked in 2024.

Those gathered under the museum’s hospitable roof confessed that both sides benefit from such visits: the region is waiting for intellectuals from the capital (Yerevan), and those living in Yerevan need to frequently communicate Syunik region - the gateway to the motherland.