Prominent Armenian architect and scholar Murad Hasratian dies at 89

Murad Hasratian, a corresponding member of Armenia’a National Academy of Sciences, an honored architect of Armenia and a leading scholar of Armenian architecture, died at the age of 89 on Friday.

Hasratian was widely recognized for his seminal research on Armenian architectural heritage, particularly in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). The Research on Armenian Architecture (RAA) NGO expressed condolences to his family, noting the loss of an eminent scientist and a member of its academic council.

In a social media post, the Artsakh Ministry of Culture said Hasratian made a major contribution to the study and documentation of Armenian monuments in Artsakh. His Soviet-era surveys and research on sites including Amaras, Gandzasar, Dadivank, Khatravank, Gtchavank Monasteries and Shushi’s Ghazanchetsots Cathedral remain foundational sources for the protection of Artsakh’s cultural heritage and for countering historical falsifications.

Born in 1935, Hasratian was the son of noted architectural historian Morus Hasratian. He graduated with honors in 1958 from the Yerevan Polytechnic Institute, where his teachers included Rafayel Israelian, Samvel Safaryan and Varazdat Harutyunyan.

He began his career as a senior architect at the Yerevan Project Institute in Gevorg Tamanyan’s studio, contributing to residential and administrative buildings, schools and urban plans in Yerevan. From 1964, he worked at the Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Arts, later serving as scientific secretary and heading the department for the comprehensive study of historical and cultural monuments.

Hasratian earned his doctorate with a dissertation on the 17th-18th century architectural complexes of Syunik and was appointed professor of architecture in 2003. He taught at the Yerevan State Academy of Fine Arts and Yerevan State University.

Over his career, Hasratian documented nearly 150 monuments.