News of Expensive Canvases Disappearing Does Not Correspond to Reality: National Gallery

The National Gallery of Armenia has responded to the statement from the Prosecutor General's Office regarding the reported disappearance of cultural assets valued at 120 million AMD from the National Gallery.

The gallery states:

“The publications that appeared in the media and caused a significant uproar the day before, claiming that expensive canvases have disappeared from the National Gallery of Armenia, do not correspond to reality.

The information in these publications pertains to the former Exhibition Center State Non-Commercial Organization (SNCO), which was dissolved in 2016 and merged with the National Gallery of Armenia. The verification and inventory of the actual presence of the former Exhibition Center SNCO's funds are currently underway. The management of the National Gallery of Armenia has informed the relevant authorities and law enforcement agencies about the missing items identified during the verification of actual presence, based on which a criminal case has been initiated.

We ask journalists not to be misled by the potential for sensational headlines when publishing any material, to demonstrate high professional skills, to refrain from gossip, and to avoid misusing the name of the Mother Museum of Armenia—the National Gallery of Armenia—and not to attempt to mislead our society.”

It should be noted that yesterday the Prosecutor's Office announced: “As a result of the verification of the presence of museum items in the funds of the Exhibition Center SNCO carried out upon the demand of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia for the years 2018-2019, it was revealed that 626 cultural values, including paintings, tapestries, graphic works, sculptures, etc., are missing, with a total value of 120,250,000 AMD. Among them are also two paintings of significant artistic value: a painting titled ‘The Hall of Hay Philharmonic’ by Martiros Saryan valued at 60,000,000 AMD and a painting titled ‘Renaissance’ by H. Zardaryan valued at 2,000,000 AMD.”