BEFORE RENOVATING MONUMENTS, ROADS MUST BE RENOVATED

“Allocations from state budget for the recovery of historical and cultural monuments have been provided since 2004. As a result, 12-13 historical monuments are renovated annually,” department head at the ministry of culture, Artiom Grigoryan, told Panorama.am. In his words, the allocations from the state budget are increasing year by year. In 2004, 50 mln was allocation, in 2005 – 530 million, in 2006-720 million. “In 2007, less money, 660 million was allocated and I cannot say anything about 2008 except for that the allocations have gone down,” Grigoryan said.

In fact, no separate allocations are made for roads leading to cultural monuments. “Part of the money envisaged for monuments is used for reconstruction of roads since we have a problem of transporting construction materials to the monuments. The roads are in bad conditions. It is impossible to drive. The roads are not asphalted but are covered by soil. Later, they may be covered with asphalt which will contribute to the development of tourism,'' he mentioned.

In Grigoryan's words, funds are released also by public organizations, charity funds and individuals. ''Every year we monitor the monuments and choose the ones that need the most renovation,'' he said.

This year 13 monuments have been renovated and another 10 are planned for the next year.