"There are abandoned, shabby buildings of cultural and historical significance in the city and we have to work on this," Tigran Avinyan said this at a working meeting last year.
Today, there are about three dozen historical buildings in Yerevan that are in extremely poor condition, the owners of which are unknown or their whereabout is uncertain. In order to preserve buildings of historical and cultural value, Yerevan Municipality jointly with the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport has started a new process to find the owners and restore the buildings.
"These are mainly black buildings built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, well-known among Yerevan residents. The buildings have various problems. Some have a high level of emergency; others are not used for their primary purpose. According to the RA Law "On the Preservation and Use of Immovable Historical and Cultural Monuments and the Historical Environment", the responsibilities of the owners of monuments are defined. These obligations include the preservation and maintenance of monuments. On this issue, we have launched a joint initiative with the Municipality of Yerevan,” says Grant Hovsepyan, head of the Department of Restoration of Monuments of the Ministry of  ESCS.
"In this issue, the Municipality cooperates with the Cadastre Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs in order to be able to identify the owners or reveal their whereabouts and ensure that they will take the responsibility for the preservation of the monument buildings, as well as for the implementation of strengthening, restoration and maintenance works, as determined by the decision of the Council of Elders," emphasized Sona Tevanyan, Advisor to the Mayor of Yerevan.
Notifications have been sent to all owners demanding that they meet their obligations. Several owners have responded, expressing their willingness to ensure the preservation of the buildings. In some cases, the notifications simply do not reach the addressee, since the owners, who are individuals or legal entities, are abroad. In case of not meeting the obligations imposed on the owners, administrative fines are exposed.
"Currently, the Municipality has initiated another process - amendments to the RA Law "On Local Self-Government of Yerevan", which, along with other regulations, provides for regulations in this area, precisely with the aim of creating a new a legislative framework according to which the community will be able to intervene and preserve buildings in cases where the owners fail to do so, taking into account that these buildings are not only their property, but also the historical and cultural heritage of the city and the state. Moreover, the costs incurred must be compensated by the owners. Administrative fines will also increase significantly," Sona Tevanyan noted.
Everything possible must be done to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of Yerevan. The law also provides for the possibility alienation of abandoned cultural and historical buildings from the owners.
"The new bill stipulates tough methods in the event of failure by owners to fulfill their obligations to preserve cultural and historical buildings. Besides, design deviations in relation to monument buildings are a direct crime, and the elimination of these deviations is the responsibility of the owners. This obligation must be observed or it will be done compulsory," Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan emphasized in July of this year.
"Our goal, of course, is not to confiscate property from owners, but to make them fulfill their obligations. We sincerely hope that this process will soon yield results," says Hrant Hovsepyan.
Strengthening, renovation, restoration and maintenance. Cultural and historical buildings should be kept in good condition not only from the outside, but also from the inside. Meanwhile, today some buildings are in an extremely poor condition.
The community and the authorities have joined efforts to restore the historical face of Yerevan.