Carpet Created by Ghazir Orphanage Children Donated to Armenian Genocide Museum

YEREVAN (Armenpress) — A carpet of unique value has been donated to the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute through Aspet Hamalian and the Armenian Embassy in Lebanon in accordance with the testament of Beirut resident Hrayr-Mkrtich Srapian, the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute official website reports.

The donor of this carpet highlighted the importance of preserving the memory of the Armenian Genocide and transferring them to the future generations.

The carpet has been created by Armenian orphans of Ghazir orphanage in 1925. A similar carpet created by them has been donated to US President C. Coolidge as a gratitude to the American people for assisting Armenians. During the 1920s about 1400 Armenian female orphans who survived the Genocide sheltered in Ghazir orphanage. In addition to other crafts, they also learnt carpet weaving. During 1923-1930 more than 3000 carpets have been woven here, over 1000 Armenian orphans received carpet-weaving certificates.

The carpet belonged to the Srapian family living in Beirut. The father of the donor is an Armenian Genocide survivor Hovhannes H. Srapian (born in 1899). Hovhannes, who survived the massacres, was settled in Aleppo than in Beirut.