Why Did the Exhibits from Shushi Museums Remain with the Enemy?

During the 44-day war, there was a proposal to evacuate exhibits from the museums of Shushi, but the director of the "Shushi City Museums" State Non-Commercial Organization, Lusine Gasparyan, did not accept it. This was stated in an interview with Sputnik Armenia by the former Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sport of Artsakh, Lusine Gharakhanian.

Earlier, Lusine Gasparyan had reported that there was no question of evacuating exhibits from Shushi in 2020. According to her, the Ministry decided to keep the items in a bomb shelter.

“When we were evacuating the exhibits from the carpet museum and a vehicle was heading to Shushi, I called Lusine Gasparyan. She had already packed the museum items and canvases, but she got scared and did not agree,” Gharakhanian said.

The former minister noted that there was no written order, but she also explained that there was no time for that in a wartime situation. “The director of the museum organization should have understood that she was the one responsible for the property, not me. As a result, all those exhibits remained there. The works of Jean Garrage and Jansem were particularly valuable,” Gharakhanian highlighted.

For more details, see the video.