Embassy of Armenia hosts an event dedicated to the launch of the project aimed at the digitalization of Armenia's heritage sites

08 October, 2014

On October 8, the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies in partnership with the international digital heritage preservation non-profit organization CyArk organized an event dedicated to the kick-off of the CyArk’s 500 Challenge initiative. The event was held under the patronage of the Ambassador of Armenia to the United States H.E. Mr.Tigran Sargsyan.

The initiative pursues two objectives: First, the CyArk specialists will teach the students of the Tumo to use a cutting-edge laser scanning technology. Afterwards, the two entities will jointly document and provide a virtual access to 500 heritage sites of Armenia. As a result, the detailed 3D models of the sites will be created and later will be transferred to an online interactive platform.

“CyArk’s 500 Challenge” is an international undertaking and its first project will be carried out in Armenia.

Ambassador Tigran Sargsyan welcomed the initiative and expressed confidence that the incorporation of new technologies into the education of our youth is an imperative for our nation’s future.

At the kick-off event, Mrs. Marie Lou Papazian, Managing Director of Tumo and Katherine Sarafian, the Oscar-winning Producer at Pixar Animation Studios and a Board member of both Tumo and CyArk addressed the audience. Mr. Hrachia Tashchian welcomed the guests to the Embassy and made a statement dedicated to the occasion, highlighting the initiative's educational, cultural and economic dimensions.

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Welcoming remarks of Mr. Hrachia Tashchian, Deputy Chief of Mission:

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Guests,

On behalf of His Excellency Ambassador Tigran Sargsyan I have the honor and privilege of welcoming you all to the Armenian Embassy and with that I would like to express our appreciation to all those involved in organizing this wonderful event.

Today we are gathered here to speak about an important initiative launched by CyArk in cooperation with Yerevan Tumo Center for Creative Technologies. We welcome this initiative and completely support its objectives.

As I got from my communication with the CyArk representatives, at the first stage of implementation CyArk will educate Tumo students how to use new technology to digitalize buildings and other architectural sites. After students have gained necessary knowledge and skills, the CyArk and Tumo partnership will proceed to the next stage of the project, which will aim at digitally documenting Armenian heritage monuments and converting them into 3D models.

To my mind the initiative has a number of notable dimensions, first of which is cultural.

You know that by its geographical size Armenia is a small country. However, despite its size, Armenia is well known for its diverse and beautiful historic sites. In centuries-old history of Armenia, every generation of our people left a significant mark in the development of our culture and particularly our architecture. And now, we, as the present generation of Armenians, have an obligation to preserve the priceless legacy we received from our predecessors. We must preserve it for the generations to come and for human civilization as a whole. And as we can see, this unique initiative, this project, which will digitally document 500 ancient historic sites, is best designed to meet this important challenge.

Secondly, this initiative will help us better present our cultural heritage to the world. About one century ago thanks to the Armenian enthusiasts and devoted architects - who scrupulously researched Armenian ancient monuments and made their detailed drawings - our medieval architectural heritage was successfully presented to the European Academic circles and to the global community as a whole. Today, the implementation of this wonderful project will enable us to promote Armenian culture throughout the world in a new, technologically advanced and more effective way.

The popularization of Armenian culture will in turn generate more interest towards our country and thus facilitate the development of international tourism in our country. Thus, given the rapid growth of the tourism industry in Armenia, this initiative also acquires an important economic dimension.

Furthermore, this technology-based initiative will obviously have positive repercussions for the development of the IT sector in Armenia. IT sector is among the main priorities of the Armenian Government. It is becoming one of the driving forces of Armenia’s economic growth. And, as I believe, the implementation of this project can enhance the potential of Tumo Center, which is fairly considered one of the crucial elements of our IT community. Tumo is not simply an educational institution. It plays much more important role in our society. It actually fosters new values: it teaches Armenian youth to respect education and knowledge, to be creative and innovative.

And finally, concluding my short speech, on behalf of our Ambassador and myself I would like to express our profound gratitude personally to Ms. Elizabeth Lee, the Vice President of CyArk, to Ms. Katherine Sarafian, Oscar-winning producer at Pixar Animation Studios, who also serves on the Bords of both Tumo and CyArk, and to Ms. Marie Lou Papazian, Managing director of Tumo.

Thank you for visiting Armenian Embassy. Thank you so much for your support in propagating Armenia’s culture and most importantly in fostering Armenia’s future with us.

MFA RA
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