Lithuanian Ambassador at the 5th Jurgis Baltrušaitis Jr. Award ceremony: “Architecture is the art of creating the future, preserving the present and the past”
On 24 November, the 5th Jurgis Baltrušaitis Jr. Award was presented at the National University of Architecture and Construction of Armenia. This year’s winner is Argam Shahbazyan, who presented the project of regeneration of the square near train station in Yerevan.
“This is a very important program that allows to evaluate the work done by Jurgis Baltrušaitis Jr. Being a Lithuanian, he devoted much of his professional life, energy and time to the study of the ancient architecture of Armenia and Georgia. Architecture is the art of creating the future, preserving the present and the past. I hope that this award will be an impetus for students to improve their professional skills, to create new masterpieces of Armenian and European architecture”, - said Ambassador Inga Stanytė-Toločkienė.
During the event, the announcement was also made that starting from the next year, three students of the university instead of one will have the opportunity to receive Jurgis Baltrušaitis Jr. Scholarship.
The award has been established together with Petros Aloyan Foundation, Mediamax news agency and the National University of Architecture and Construction of Armenia in 2017, at the initiative of the Embassy of Lithuania in Armenia.
Jurgis Baltrušaitis Jr. (1903-1988) was a prominent art historian and diplomat of Lithuania, he is known as historian of the pastoral architecture of the Caucasus. He published two books about architecture of Armenia and Georgia in 1929 and 1936. J. Baltrušaitis Jr. is also the author of the work "Julfa of the Arax and its Funerary Monuments" which presents thousands of khachkars (cross-stones), many of which were destroyed.
Photos: Mediamax and National University of Architecture and Construction of Armenia
