Djulfa Virtual Memorial and Museum (original) (raw)

“There are thousands of khatchkars (cross-stones) here. Each khatchkar could very easily become a rare exhibit in any of the most famous European museums… If all of Europe’s millionaires were to enter the old Djulfa forest of khatchkars and come out bankrupt, the forest would not be endangered in any way.” – A European scholar on the Djulfa cemetery before the destruction

“A medieval cemetery regarded as one of the wonders of the Caucasus has been erased from the Earth in an act of cultural vandalism likened to the Taleban blowing up the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan in 2001.” – The Times, London

“In [a 2009 satellite image of the Djulfa cemetery], the entire area has been graded flat, possibly by earth moving equipment as evidenced by the dirt roads that traverse the area.” – American Association for the Advancement of Science

Founded in 2007 by Denver-based educator and activist Simon Maghakyan, the Djulfa Virtual Memorial and Museum – Djulfa.com partners with institutional and individual cultural rights defenders across the world to document, publicize, and pursue accountability for the intentional destruction of the largest medieval Armenian cemetery at Djulfa, originally called Jugha and often spelled as Julfa or Culfa, as well as other monuments of the earliest Christian civilization in the Azerbaijan Republic’s formerly-Armenian exclave of Nakhichevan, today known as Naxçıvan.