The Investigative Committee Discovers Saryan's Painting 'Armenia' and Zardaryan's Triangle 'Renaissance'

The Investigative Committee has announced the discovery and seizure of significant cultural value items, namely Martiros Saryan's painting 'Armenia' and Hovhannes Zardaryan's triangular artwork 'Renaissance'. This information was released by the Information and Public Relations Department of the RA Investigative Committee.

According to the report, during the inspection of museum objects in the 'Exhibition Center' State Non-Commercial Organization's funds from 2018 to 2019, it was found that several cultural items with a total value of 121,380,000 AMD, including paintings, tapestries, graphic works, sculptures, and more, were missing. Among these were two particularly valuable cultural items: Saryan's 'Armenia' worth 60,000,000 AMD and the central part of Zardaryan's 'Renaissance' valued at 2,000,000 AMD.

A criminal case was initiated on April 3, 2019, based on Article 177 (theft), Article 180 (theft of particularly valuable items), and Article 315 (official negligence) of the RA Criminal Code, which is being investigated by the Main Department of Particularly Important Cases of the RA Investigative Committee. During the investigation, extensive investigative and procedural actions revealed that Saryan's 'Armenia' and the central part of Zardaryan's 'Renaissance' might be found in one of the fund repositories. On May 7, 2020, as a result of investigative actions, a sketch of Saryan's 'Armenia' and Zardaryan's 'Renaissance' were discovered and seized. The investigation continues.