On September 25, the city of Gyumri celebrated it’s birthday. On that
occasion, the statue of Armenian military leader Andranik surrounded by
the bronze busts of soldiers got transferred from the outskirts of
Gyumri to the center of the city. According to the creator of the
statue Martin Tonoyan, the statue occupies the area in which the
military leader must be placed-the former Dzetoghtsyan Street. After
renaming the street, it has been renamed the “Haghtanak thicket”.
Sculptors Martin Tonoyan, Gabriel Yeproyan, Tom Gevorgyan and architect
Henrik Gasparyan had begun sculpting the statue since 1987.
Gyumri remembers the individuals who helped Gyumri recover from the
horrible earthquake in 1988. One of the streets of the city was named
after Russia’s minister of oil and gasification then turned vice Prime
Minister Boris Shcherbin. There was also a bust in honor of him. The
sculptor of the bust Yuri Petrosyan says: Shcherbena and Rizhkov, whose
bust was placed in Spitak, were the ones who first lended a helping
hand and made large investments in reconstructing the city of Spitak.”
There had always been plans for sculpting the statue of famous actor
from Gyumri Mher Mkrtchyan. Sculptor Ara Shiraz says: “About seven
years ago, there was a contest for the best plan of the statue and a
winner had been selected, however, sculpting had not been possible due
to some issues. Thanks to Gyumri’s city council and Albert Mkrtchyan,
the statue was sculpted. The statue is composed of two parts: first,
Frunzik (Mher Mkrtchyan) is in a sitting position, thinking. The
background shows a stela symbolizing a theatre curtain on which the two
masks of drama and comedy are portrayed. “While sculpting the statue, I
decided to use two photos of Mher: one picture of him laughing
whole-heartedly and another one of him in the role of Nikol, the
messenger.”
N.H.