User:Meri Asatryan

Aksel Bakunts House Museum in Goris (arm. Ակսել Բակունցի տուն-թանգարան) is a private house in Goris (Syunik marz) of 19-20th centuries where the great Armenian prose writer Aksel Bakunts (1899-1937) was born and grew up. It is the Branch of Yeghishe Charents Museum of Literature and Arts. Besides 500 main objects there are also thousand scientific subsidiary materials which represent the military life of the writer, years of education literary activity.

History
In homage to the great Armenian writer Aksel Bakunts (1899-1937), his house museum opened in Goris in September 1970, becoming a branch of the Yeghishe Charents Museum of Literature and Arts in 1976. This was the house where Bakunts lived for the first 10 years of his life and again later in his life; his parents continued to live here even after he left. On the occasion of the writer’s 90th birthday, the museum was transformed into a memorial complex with a large yard, khachkar fountain (added later for his 105th birthday), garden, and fruit trees, maintaining the original façade of the building.

The museum and main exhibition were completely renovated between 2012-2014.

The ‘Mirhav’ literary club has been operating adjacent to the House Museum since 2013. The club organizes readings, literary-musical events, debates, book presentations and open classes intended to educate individuals about Armenian cultural and literary figures, like Aksel Bakunts.

The aim of the Aksel Bakunts House Museum is to preserve the writer’s personal belongings and works and share them with future generations. The house museum offers an intimate view into Aksel Bakunts’ origins, as well as information about his family and friendships. Set behind a picturesque stone wall and wooden door opening into the beautiful yard, the 19th-century house is an attraction itself, having been maintained to appear as it was when Bakunts was living in it. Part of the museum’s charm is its simplicity; its architecture and design invite visitors to imagine life in the mid-19th century.

Location and building
The House Museum includes four small rooms that display Bakunts’ furniture, correspondence, and books, as well as household items, valuable pictures, documents, stories and novels that were published in periodicals.

The entrance hall leads into Bakunts’ bedroom, which includes his desk, bed, carpets woven by his mother, clothing once worn by the writer, and a painting by Mariam Aslamazyan of Aksel Bakunts with his mother. Adjacent to his bedroom is a small kitchen, which includes a tonir (clay oven) where Aksel Bakunts’ mother used to bake lavash.

The next gallery used to be Bakunts’ living room and currently displays various documents, pictures, personal belongings, books, handwritten correspondence  and the “Portrait of Aksel Bakunts’ Mother” by Martiros Saryan. Saryan, a well-known Armenian artist, painted this portrait in 1935 when he visited Syunik to paint the landscape. During this visit, the artist met with Aksel Bakunts and said that he needed a place to stay overnight. Bakunts invited him to stay in his home, and Saryan ended up staying for 10 days. As a gift of gratitude, Saryan painted Bakunts’ mother.

The third gallery used to be his parents’ room where Bakunts did much of his writing. Visitors can see a desk, lamp and inkwell, as well as other personal belongings.

The writer’s rich library is also preserved here. The memorial room with private goods, photos and documents of the writer are preserved in safety. Various events concerning Bakunts’s works and literary issues as well as annual "Bakunts Days" are organized in this museum.



Works of Aksel Bakunts
His most famous works are "Alpiakan manushak" (dedicated to Arpenik Charents, the first wife of Yeghishe Charents), "Lar-Markar", "Namak rusats tagavorin" ("A Letter to the Russian Tsar"), "Kyores" (1935) etc. Bakunts also was a film-writer ("Zangezur", etc.). A 1927 collection of his short stories, "Mtnadzor," was translated into English by Nairi Hakhverdi as "The Dark Valley" and published by the Gomidas Institute in 2009.

Museum information
Museum hours: Tuesday -Saturday – 10:00-18:00, Sunday – 11:00-17:00

Address: 41 Mashtots,  3201 Goris, Syunik

Official website: www.gatmuseum.am

Official e-mail address: bakuncmuseum@mail.ru

Tel.: +374 284 229 66, +374 77 111 245