Introduction to Armenian History, Culture & Heritage – Session 3 – Steven Sim – Armenian Architecture – City of Ani
Sunday 4th March
Time: 1:00PM - 4:00PM Venue: Hayashen Price: Free
Details
Starting in the late 1980s, Steven Sim has made over 20 visits to the territories of historic Armenia that are now inside Turkey, amassing a collection of over 30,000 photographs that document hundreds of vanishing and at-risk Armenian monuments located throughout Turkey. He has also photographed Armenian monuments located in Armenia, Georgia, Syria, and Iran. In 1995, material from these travels in eastern Turkey appeared in his video diary-style documentary film “Journey through Western Armenia” that received a limited release in UK. Connected with this he gave several talks about Armenian architecture in Turkey at the Hayashen Armenian community centre in London. In 1999 he created the website VirtualAni.org to present images and information about the ruined medieval Armenian city of Ani. In March 2005 in Montreal, Canada, as part of the “Symposium on 20th century Genocides” held at McGill University, he gave several talks, including one on the monuments at Ani and one on the condition of Armenian monuments in Turkey ninety years after the Armenian Genocide. In August 2005, at the request of RAA (Research on Armenian Architecture) he travelled to Azerbaijan’s province of Nakhchivan to investigate the condition of Armenian churches that were still standing during Soviet times. Later, in Armenia, he reported his findings at a press conference held at the Yerevan Society of Architects and did several press and television interviews. In 2006, testimony he supplied to Charles Tannock MEP led to the passing of an EU resolution condemning Azerbaijan’s destruction of the medieval Armenian site of Jugha. A report on his visit to Nakhchivan was published in the 2006 book “The Destruction of Jugha and the Entire Armenian Cultural Heritage in Nakhijevan” and he co-authored with Professor Lucy Der Manuelian the history chapters of the same book. In September 2006 he was invited by the Switzerland-Armenia Parliamentary Group to be part of the delegation that met with UNESCO president Koichiro Matsuura in Paris to protest at UNESCO’s sustained inactivity on the issue of Azerbaijan’s destruction of Armenian cultural monuments. In November 2007 he contributed photographs to the “Armenian Monuments of the Nakhichevan Region” exhibition hosted by the Davis Centre at Harvard University, and he took part in a panel discussion about the destruction of Armenian monuments in Azerbaijan held at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research in Belmont, Massachusetts. During the same visit, he gave a talk about the ruins of Ani at Columbia University, New York.Need to Pre-register? Yes, please contact us in advance to reserve your place.
