During a panel hosted by the World Monuments Fund on February 23, a question from the audience regarding the omission of Armenian heritage destruction was dismissed by a New York professor and ex-diplomat. The destruction of 28,000 medieval Armenian monuments, previously reported by Hyperallergic in 2019, was not deemed significant by the panelist, who compared them unfavorably to more famous sites like Palmyra. This response likely reflects a lack of awareness about sites like Djulfa, home to a large collection of khachkar stelae, and Agulis, a historic town rich in Armenian church architecture.
Thomas G. Weiss, who co-edited Getty’s 2022 publication on cultural heritage and mass atrocities, seemed unaware of the comprehensive destruction of Armenian sites in Nakhichevan from 1997 to 2006, which has been described as a cultural genocide. The erasure was so extensive that a 2008 inventory by Azerbaijan listed no Armenian artifacts. This issue is central to an ongoing International Court of Justice case concerning the protection against cultural destruction.
Panel member Irina Bokova, former Director-General of UNESCO, has faced criticism for not acknowledging the obliteration of Armenian heritage in Nakhichevan. Her participation in promoting Azerbaijan’s image despite its repressive regime and her personal financial ties to the country have been scrutinized. Her involvement with Getty, despite these controversies, raises questions about the institution’s stance on cultural erasure.
Getty’s 2022 publication, a result of a $100 million cultural heritage protection initiative, briefly mentions threats to Armenian heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh but omits the historical context of Nakhichevan’s destruction. This omission is especially notable given Getty’s proximity to a large Armenian community in Los Angeles and its sporadic engagement with Armenian culture.
The exclusion of Nakhichevan from Getty’s publication and the panel discussion underscores a continued neglect of Armenian cultural erasure. As Getty manages a substantial fund for heritage protection, the institution must consider its impact on marginalized communities. According to artist Mashinka Firunts Hakopian, the survival of those targeted for cultural annihilation is itself a victory, a perspective that Getty should heed to prevent further historical erasure.
