Some find oldest winery in Areni, some turn wine press site in Ashtarak into dumpThe ancient wine press site in the Armenian town of Ashtarak resembles a junkyard. The Armenian town of Ashtarak is known as the old center of wine-making. There are plenty of monuments evidencing this throughout the place. February 28, 2011 PanARMENIAN.Net - A wine press (hndzan in Armenian) was usually built neat the house or in the garden of the households engaged in wine-making. It was a container with a bit sloping bottom and an outlet to a stone vat in the ground. Barefoot men pressed wine in the press and then poured it into special clay pots. A PanARMENIAN.Net photojournalist, who visited Ashtarak lately, took photos of the territory, which resembles junkyard rather than an ancient wine-making site. Over the past years, garbage from dwelling constructions nearby has been taken directly there. Head of the department of ethnography of the Armenian Institute of Archeology and Ethnography Suren Gobosyan, said that the remains of the wine presses were found during the excavations in 1980s. “These monuments date back to 6-13th centuries and are valuable heritage of medieval culture,” he said. It’s regretful to see the medieval monuments in such a deplorable state. From the one hand, international researchers continue finding proofs of Armenia’s being the cradle of civilization; on the other hand, we show uncivilized methods of treating the historical heritage. Some find oldest winery in Areni, some turn wine press site in Ashtarak into dump. PanARMENIAN.Net brought the problem to the notion of the agency for preservation of historical and cultural monuments and hopes to receive an explanation in the near future. However, it’s clear that the state institution can’t guarantee preservation of about 25 thousand monuments throughout the country unless the people themselves address the problem. Yekaterina Poghosyan / PanARMENIAN News Most popular in the section The Oscar-winning helmer who hopes to return to Armenia many, many times ICAE2018 proves a success Telling a story in a single image Chance to have another dream More articles in this section The other side of music Instrumental injuries How Indians turned into Armenian Gypsies Law-abiding and peace-loving Armenian Renaissance Ahead of Europe | Russia clarifying reports on Baku’s alleged arms supply to Ukraine Russia says is carefully working to verify reports about alleged arms supplies from Azerbaijan to Ukraine Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. |