San Francisco Armenian Genocide cross glows blue to honor health workers

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian Genocide Memorial in Sun Francisco has been illuminated in blue in support of health workers fighting the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.

The annual Easter sunrise service at the historic Mount Davidson Landmark Park and Cross in San Francisco was canceled due to the novel coronavirus shelter-in-place order, the first cancellation since the tradition was established in 1923.

But part of the tradition, the lighting of the cross on the night before Easter, was continued with an added twist.

The cross was illuminated in blue light ”to show support for healthcare professionals and essential front-line workers during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Council of Armenian Americans of Northern California said in a news release.

The concrete cross, which stands 103 feet tall atop the highest point in San Francisco, is one of several that have stood at the site, with others destroyed by arsonists.

The current cross was dedicated in 1933 when President Franklin Roosevelt “pressed a golden telegraph key in Washington, D.C. to light up the cross in front of an audience of 50,000,” according to a history compiled by the Armenian council.

“It is one of the oldest landmarks in San Francisco and stands as a memorial to the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide of 1915,” the council said in its announcement.

April 24, 1915 is the day when a group of Armenian intellectuals were rounded up and assassinated in Constantinople by the Ottoman government. On April 24, Armenians worldwide will be commemorating the 105th anniversary of the Genocide, which continued until 1923. Some three dozen countries, hundreds of local government bodies and international organizations have so far recognized the killings of 1.5 million Armenians as Genocide. Turkey denies to this day.