Stories carved in stone - Վիմագիր պատմություններ

The Inalco Foundation, the Hishatakaran association and the Centre de Recherche Europes-Eurasie-CREE (Inalco) are pleased to invite you to the colloquium "Histories engraved in stone - Վիմագիր պատմություններ", third meeting of the Armenian Heritage Documentation and Preservation Program, to be held on November 26, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., at Inalco's Maison de la Recherche.
Histoires gravées dans la pierre
Histoires gravées dans la pierre © Fondation Inalco‎

This new symposium is part of the continuity of actions undertaken since 2022 to document, preserve and enhance the heritage of Nagorno-Karabakh, as part of a program supported by the Fondation Inalco, the Fondation ALIPH and the Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian.

Placed under the title "Histories engraved in stone", this event will highlight the material and immaterial traces of a centuries-old memory, preserved in architecture, lapidary inscriptions and popular memory.

Initiated and coordinated by Anna Leyloyan-Yekmalyan, it will bring together researchers, curators, architects and heritage players around the work of the HISHATAKARAN team and two plenary lectures:

  • Manvel Sargsyan, architect: Folk architecture in Artsakh: memory, forms and transformations

Arsen Harutyunyan, epigraphist: The historical value of Artsakh epigraphs in the face of contemporary challenges

This third colloquium follows on from the meetings in Paris (2023) and Erevan (2024), which helped strengthen ties between French and Armenian institutions, and raise awareness of the program's work on the international stage.

Open to all, the symposium invites reflection on how stone - architecture, sculpture, epigraphy - becomes a witness to history and a vehicle for cultural transmission.

The Inalco Foundation warmly thanks the Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian and the Fondation ALIPH for their support of this ambitious program to safeguard and showcase Armenian heritage.

Program

  • 9:45am - Welcome to speakers
  • 10:00am - Welcome to the public
  • 10:15am - Colloquium "Histories engraved in stone" 
    Opening remarks:
    • Mr Philippe Advani, President of the Inalco Foundation
    • His Excellency Mr Arman Khachatryan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the French Republic
  • 10:30am - Introduction to the symposium proceedings
    Anna Leyloyan-Yekmalyan, Senior Lecturer at Inalco, Scientific Director of the Program for the Documentation and Preservation of Armenian Heritage
  • 10:40am - Report on the work carried out by the Hishatakaran team in 2025
    • Sasun Danielyan, Gayane Boudaghyan, Armine Hayrapetyan, Ashkhen Petrosyan, Ruzanna Kharazyan
  • 11:30am - "The stones we silence: monuments, memory and the dynamics of erasing heritage and its environment", Anna Leyloyan-Yekmalyan
  • 1pm - Lunch break
  • 2pm - "Memory inscribed in the historical landscape: Medieval strata and endangered monuments in southwest Stepanakert", Arminé Hayrapetyan, historian, Hishatakaran
  • 2:30 pm - "Folk architecture in Artsakh: memory, forms and transformations", Manvel Sargsyan, architect, architectural historian, expert of Hishatakaran
  • 4pm - Coffee break
  • 4:30pm - "The historical value of Artsakh epigraphs in the face of contemporary challenges", Arsen Harutyunyan, epigraphist, head of the Department of Epigraphy at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of ANS RA, senior researcher at Matenadaran
  • 6pm - Discussion and conclusions of the day
  • 6:30pm - Cocktail