New statues of great Armenians to be erected in Yerevan

Yerevan is going to be home to more statues of great Armenians.

Sculptures featuring the renowned 20th century poet, Paruyr Sevak, the legendary Armenian chess player Tigran Petrosyan and five other great people are going to be erected in the capital city soon.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, the author of the statues, Suren Melkonyan, did not disclose the names of the other characters, saying only they all will be sitting on benches. One of them, according to him, is a hero of a popular film.

Melkonyan, who had earlier created the statue of the popular Soviet-Armenian actor, Mher Mher Mkrtchyan, said he does not think that damages to the statue were caused deliberately.

“I happened through negligence,” he said, “[People] take photos, talk and hug each other, so they damaged it negligently, thinking that it is bronze.”

A bronze barrel, which was an attribute of the statue, was broken on Thursday by an unknown individual. The sculpture was later taken to the studio for repair.

The author has now revised certain sketches, to make the sculpture more solid.