Events
Lecture: “Problems of Restoration and Museification of Dashtadem Fortress.”
On 17 September 2025, the Research Group on Architectural Modeling of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the NAS RA organized a seminar. Archaeologist Sose Aghayan presented on the topic “Problems of Restoration and Museification of Dashtadem Fortress.” The event was attended both by members of the research group and by all those interested in the subject. Dashtadem Fortress, also known as Kagheni Berd, is located in the Aragatsotn Province, near the town of Talin, in the village of Dashtadem. The speaker discussed the architectural and structural challenges of the fortress, emphasizing that they stem from both historical events and human and natural factors. Settlement of the fortress territory after the Armenian Genocide, interventions undertaken over the subsequent centuries, and natural disasters—most notably the 1988 Spitak earthquake—caused significant damage to the medieval structures. The situation is further complicated by the fact that previous excavations were not completed, and new restoration works often did not align with earlier interventions. The first excavations at Dashtadem Fortress were carried out in 1989–1990, and in the 2000s, they were continued as part of restoration programs. Since 2015, an expedition team from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography has been conducting systematic excavations at the fortress, simultaneously clearing the complex of extraneous constructions. The first attempts at restoring the fortress date back to 1961, when a collapsed section of the fortress wall was reinforced. Sose Aghayan particularly emphasized that the fortress contains layers from the 12th to the 20th centuries, which complicates both the excavation process and its interpretation. She also noted the uncertainty regarding the sequence of construction, which is difficult to determine without comprehensive excavations. The speaker addressed not only archaeological but also conceptual and museological issues, stressing the need to balance the medieval reality with museum presentation, the importance of integrating modern museum practices, and the organization of interactive activities. She also highlighted public and social aspects, noting that the implementation of programs for the preservation and museification of the fortress requires adequate financial resources. At the conclusion of the seminar, a discussion took place in which participants asked questions and provided suggestions to the speaker.
2025-09-18
Lecture: Museums in Times of Crisis: The Experience of the Museums of Artsakh
On September 15, a seminar dedicated to the theme of museums was held in the reading hall of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia. Nzhdeh Yeranyan, Candidate of Historical Sciences and a member of the Research Group on the Historical and Cultural Heritage of Artsakh, delivered a paper entitled “Museums in Times of Crisis: The Experience of the Museums of Artsakh.” In his presentation, N. Yeranyan discussed the challenges faced by museums during crises. Drawing on his participation in various international events on museum-related issues, he introduced global practices of disaster response in the museum sector. According to the speaker, museum staff, state and public institutions, and volunteers must be prepared to safeguard cultural heritage in the event of any disaster, including armed conflict. Based on international experience, effective protection requires coordinated action by the Ministry of Culture, the Emergency Situations Center, the army, the police, museum, archive, and library professionals, volunteer cultural heritage rescuers, and local self-government bodies. The seminar also addressed the issue of evacuating collections from the museums of Artsakh. Former Minister of Culture and Tourism of Artsakh, Sergey Shahverdyan, likewise presented on the situation of museums in Artsakh. Members of the Research Group on the Historical and Cultural Heritage of Artsakh also contributed to the discussion.
2025-09-15
The international conference “Heritage and Depopulation in Europe” was held at Charles University in Prague
The international conference “Heritage and Depopulation in Europe” was held on the August 27–29 at Charles University in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. The event brought together scholars, experts, and researchers from approximately 106 countries to address pressing issues concerning demographic transformations, the preservation of cultural heritage, and questions of cultural identity. Among the participants were senior researchers of the Department of Diaspora Studies at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia: Lusine Tanajyan (PhD) and Sona Nersisyan (PhD), as well as researchers Nelly Khachaturyan (PhD) and Mariam Harutyunyan. Their presentations focused on ongoing transformations within the Armenian diaspora communities in Europe, exploring the specific features of community life, challenges of cultural heritage preservation, and the dynamics of religious practices.
2025-09-10
The Ancient Settlement of Kapan: On the Path to New Discoveries
In Stepanos Orbelyan’s “History of the Syuniq”, regarding events of the 5th century, it is mentioned: “And Father Hovhannes came from Kapan; taking the monks, he went to the riverbank and asked the Lord to grant fish for the needs of the monks…” (p. 118). The settlement of Kapan mentioned by Stepanos Orbelyan is located on a low hill to the left of the road from today’s regional center of Syunik, the town of Kapan, leading to Kajaran, on the right bank of the Voghji River. The locals call this area, now entirely forested, “Tandzu Lenj” (Arm: “Slope of Pear Trees”). Already in the 5th century, this place was the site of a residence-fortress of the princes of Syunik, which by the 10th century had grown into a city, becoming the royal residence and capital of the Kings of Syunik. After the fall of the Kingdom of Syunik, the settlement lost its significance, was abandoned, and fell into ruin. At present, the archaeological expedition of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia is conducting excavations at the site. According to the head of the excavations, archaeologist Gagik Sargsyan, some studies had already been carried out here during Soviet times, and the site had been recognized as a historical and cultural monument. However, such large-scale systematic excavations and complex studies are being conducted here for the first time. Numerous foundations, walls, and ruins of structures have been preserved at the site. Of particular interest is the royal palace, where the buildings belong to different periods. Under a later construction, the foundations and column bases of an earlier (4th–5th centuries) three-nave basilica church were discovered. A wall was later built along the edge of the horseshoe-shaped apse of the church. The original floor of the building was paved with stone slabs, but later a new pavement was laid on a layer of fill about 25 cm thick. Next to the church, a stone-built olive press about 1.2 m in diameter was also uncovered. About 30 m south of the so-called palace complex, the ruins of another building have been preserved, which was a small chapel with a rectangular apse. Despite the entire area being forested and overgrown with brush, it is clearly visible that the settlement-fortress was completely enclosed by walls. In some sections, the walls were built in two layers. On the eastern side of the structures, part of a once-massive tower about 4 m high has been preserved, from which one of the fortress entrances was located. Excavations are ongoing, and archaeologists still have many questions to answer.
2025-08-26
Study of Artsakh Games and Folklore in Lori Province
Children from Artsakh who have settled in different regions of Armenia continue to play popular games in their own dialectal variations, sharing them with local children while also learning the games of their new communities. The older generation, meanwhile, preserves the memories of traditional games and game folklore that have largely fallen out of use today. A research group at the Department of Folklore Studies of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography is studying Artsakh games and game folklore through fieldwork in the Lori region (including Stepanavan, Vardablur, Gyulagarak, Hobardzi, Gargar, Lori Berd, and other villages). This project is carried out with the support of the Science Committee.
2025-08-23
Participation in the Ninth Annual Conference of the Memory Studies Association
On July 14–18, we participated in the Ninth Annual Conference of the Memory Studies Association (MSA), which took place in Prague—a city whose historical layers, political legacies, and cultural milieu provided a unique platform for collective reflection on issues of memory. The conference, which brought together 1,200 presenters from all continents, was held at a time when the field of memory studies is undergoing a process of rethinking—shaped by the geographical diversification of academic centers and the emergence of new thematic research directions. With the participation of nearly all leading scholars in the field, discussions focused on the reconfiguration of memory studies discourses, particularly in the context of global crises, wars, forced displacements, and the weakening of democratic institutions. Set against the backdrop of major global anniversaries (the end of WWII in 1945, the end of the Vietnam War in 1975), commemorations of genocides and massacres (Srebrenica, 1995; Sudan, 2005), and ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, our aim was to bring visibility to the underrepresented case of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) conflict and the mass ethnic cleansing of its Armenian population. We examined how displaced Artsakh Armenians, stripped of international recognition and legal-biographical status, continue to resist erasure by reconstructing both personal and collective identity through acts of memory. Within this context, a group of researchers from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (Gayane Shagoyan, Ruzanna Tsaturyan, Gohar Stepanyan, Zara Hambardzumyan, Hasmik Knyazyan, and Shushanik Saratikyan) convened a panel titled: “Framing the Ongoing Crisis in Artsakh/Karabakh: Memory Instead of Biography.” The panel featured five studies exploring how collective memory becomes central to belonging when biography is denied or criminalized by state discourse. Topics included: The materiality of memory and destroyed identity documents (Gohar Stepanyan, Identity Documents and the Forced Displacement of the Artsakh Population in 2023); Grassroots digital archiving as a tool of cultural resistance (Hasmik Knyazyan, Challenging Erasure: Grassroots Digital Archiving and the Reclamation of Cultural Memory After Forced Displacement); Memory of endurance and defiance during the Lachin Corridor blockade (Ruzanna Tsaturyan, Remembering Endurance and Defiance: Resistance in the Artsakh Blockade); Ethical and methodological challenges in teaching unwritten histories of displacement (Zara Hambardzumyan & Shushanik Saratikyan, Navigating Memory in Education: Challenges of Teaching in the Context of Forced Displacement from Artsakh). Due to time constraints at the end of the panel, a choice had to be made between holding a discussion or presenting the final paper. Thanks to the gracious initiative of the panel moderator, Gayane Shagoyan, priority was given to questions and discussion. As a result, her compelling presentation titled “Framing Collective Trauma: Forced Displacement from Karabakh and Genocide Memory” was unfortunately not delivered in full. However, key aspects of her argument were later addressed in her opening remarks and during the Q&A session, where she provided valuable context on the historical and social dimensions of the Artsakh crisis. Most of the research presented in this panel (except for Ruzanna Tsaturyan’s presentation) was conducted within the framework of the project “Artsakh: Digital Archive of Oral Histories,” supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.Partial support for participation in the conference was generously provided by the Hovnanyan Family Foundation.
2025-07-24
