Shushi Hosts International Sculpting Symposium

SHUSHI, Artsakh (Panorama.am)—The Third Hakob Gyurjyan International Sculpture Symposium opened in Shushi on Friday, July 11, at the State Museum of Fine Arts. The symposium will center around the theme “Peace to Artsakh” and will be devoted to the 20th anniversary of the ceasefire agreement in the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, the Artsakh Ministry of Culture reports.

The symposium, which has already become tradition, is a platform for international cooperation, cultural and professional dialogue, and creative inspiration for artists. More than a dozen sculptors and artists from Italy, Switzerland, India, Belarus, Armenia, and Artsakh will take part in the International Sculpture Symposium.

“The people of Artsakh have lived 20 years in fragile peace, rebuilding the towns and villages devastated by the war, restoring their breath and soulm,” said Artsakh’s Minister of Culture Narine Aghabalyan. “All those who come to create in Artsakh contribute to the stability of peace in Artsakh and in the region.”

“The sculpture symposium is an opportunity to unite our old and new friends around beautiful art, to create works of art that will be part of Shushi’s new cultural image and remind about the eternity of beauty and spirituality,” Aghabalyan added.

The symposium will also feature lectures and workshops led by distinguished experts, including Professor Roberto Giovannelli, department head at the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence.

The International Sculpture Symposium, named after the renowned sculptor from Shushi, Hakob Gyurjyan, was first organized in Shushi in 2011 at the initiative of Armenian-Italian sculptor Vighen Avetis, who resides in Florence.