This year is the 50th anniversary of one of the most conspicuous and beautiful symbols of our city and history in general – the statue of Sasuntsi Davit. This masterpiece of Yervand Kochar is a documentary fact of the epos of Armenia, which can be found in various albums and postcards of Yerevan.
We love and show pride about the statue of Sasuntsi Davit but should be said only in the past tense because the current state of the statue and the surrounding area not only cause serious concerns but also fully mars the trademark of the statue. According to Y. Kochar, the copper statue of Sasuntsi Davit placed on December 3, 1959, may last for centuries but the statue hasn’t been examined so far. And this is impermissible mistake because the copper gets oxidized during time and the internal constructions weaken. It is urgent to examine the statue and today the physical existence of the statue is jeopardized. The director of Yervand Kochar’s museum Lala Mnatsakanyan-Kochar is sure that the examination of the statue is not a very expensive process especially if we take into account the fact that we have such specialists and there is no need to invite experts from abroad. The question is about being careful and caring. Mnatsakanyan-Kochar has communicated this issue with the representatives of the city council of Yerevan and hopes that the issue will find solution. It is also necessary to clean the surrounding area of the statue because the area is in a miserable state and is extremely dirty. During Soviet times the statue always had a guard and the pool and the area were always kept clean. There has been no guard for a long while now and no water either, which would emotionally demonstrate the essence of the statue. The water in general is a symbol of life and patience. And Y. Kochar was sure that the statue of the future shouldn’t have been built only with strong materials and that water and gas substances could also be used. “Statue construction was turned into major business; reached neutrons, atoms. The statue gained great independence. Everything should be carved in various forms. The road to magnitude should be found,” said Kochar. For him magnitude is the whole city and history, expectations of today and traits of the future and the dream of seeing our historical hero in an international context. In his composition Kochar has given a very big importance to the water by making it a major component of his statue. The pool of the statue is not just for decorative purposes, which supplements and complements the image of Sasuntsi Davit. The hero of our epos has a water origin. His mother Tsovinar was a fairy of the sea. However, it has been already 20 years since the statue of Sasuntsi Davit has been waterless, the water pipes are rotten and destroyed. After the independence of Armenia the statue lost the significance of its location (the railroads stopped functioning and the inflow of people to Yerevan ceased). But this statue also lost its contents because according to the idea of the author Davit lifts his sword only when the cup of patience of the people fills in. By flowing the water goes to the bowl of patience and it explains why Davit raises his sword as the only way of preventing the danger becomes the demonstration of force. During one of his meetings with school pupils Kochar once said, “The Armenian nation has always been peaceful. It has never attacked any nation during its history and instead always tried to defend itself from external threats. And so the statue of Davit is located near the train station of Yerevan. This is a sign to the ones, who come to the city. They see how Davit meets them with a sword and this shows how the Armenian people protect themselves from enemies when their patience bowl is filled.” This symbolic bowl originates interesting observations. It has been quite long since the water bowl wasn’t filled. The water pipes are damaged and the bowl of patience has been stolen several times. It is slightly separate from the statue and this means that it can be easily stolen and be sold as metal junk. The stolen metal bowl is substituted by some metal part brought from the station depot and the role of the pipe is currently substituted by a white plastic hose. And the composition of Kochar has been disfigured. Meanwhile we should remember that the bowl portrays the patience of the people. Without that Sasuntsi Davit’s statue loses its essence and saying. And the saying is the following, “We are not belligerent but don’t fill the bowl of our patience because in that case we become undefeatable.” You should agree that this message has a global influence on all the nations living on this planet. It also has a symbolic context for the contemporary Armenians. It turns out that when the bowl of patience of the people disappears they become very patient and tolerant toward everything. When the bowl is that there is no alternative of being patience or not. It is a very crafty step. You steal the bowl so that the patience always remains. When speaking of the minor details of the statue Kochar always tried to emphasize that the strong logic of Armenians always comes to help. Even Davit holds his Tur Ketsaki sword in a way as we is holding a log of wood as he is not a soldier but a farmer, whose difficult life has made him a warrior. And this fact helps Davit to win and defeat the enemies. Kochar said, “Unlike other heroes of eposes of other countries Davit fights against the enemy troops alone and if using a regular sword he can kill one enemy at a time. But when the sword is used as a scythe it can swipe away hundreds of enemies at a time. Besides that Davit is from the village and he was used to working with a scythe.” Lala Mnatsakanyan-Kochar tells that unlike all the other statues of epos heroes of the world Davit is the only one that doesn’t wear military clothes and instead looks like a farmer. And his loyal horse Kurkik Jalali doesn’t have reins. How can a loyal friend be reined? This is a hope inspiring symbol. Kochar has never considered himself a sculptor by saying that he is a painter-statue master. By that he was trying to say that the statue make is not merely a sculptor, who would carve masterpieces with carvers and other instruments. The real master must understand the ideal and meaning of time. “You should know what you are looking for in order to find it,” he said. The statue of Sasuntsi Davit, which had such a big meaning in past, has now been disfigured. It has appeared in garbage just like our entire beloved city and quietly states that at present we deserve what we have because we so easily steal the bowl of patience and throw plastic bottles at the bottom of the statue. We don’t signify the art and our own dignity.