On September 3, RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan participated in the solemn opening ceremony of the exhibition dedicated to the 50^th birthday of painter, member of the Union of Artists of Armenia Nikol Aghababyan at the Union of Artists of Armenia.

Nikol Aghababyan was born in Koghb village of Armenia’s Tavush province. Since 1992, he has been a member of the Union of Artists of Armenia and UNESCO’s International Society of Professional Artists. Since 1986, the painter has held personal exhibitions at the remarkable exhibition halls in Armenia and several countries around the world.

Greeting the participants, the RA Minister of Diaspora mentioned that Nikol Aghababyan’s art portrays Armenia, as well as the nature and the people of the country. “I’m grateful to one of Armenia’s best modern painters, my good friend Nikol Aghababyan for graciously donating a couple of his paintings and selling them at the exhibition-sale organized by Armenian painters to support construction of the New Aleppo district,” the Minister mentioned.

Minister Hranush Hakobyan stressed with joy the fact that the exhibitions of the artist’s paintings portraying Armenia’s nature and mountains have made the Armenians of Syria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the USA and Russia  feel proud and have awakened in them the love and longing for the Homeland.

The Minister described the artist as a good person, a good citizen and a person devoted to the nation. “On one occasion, Nikol said: ��?For me, there are three colors-red, blue and orange. The others are shades’. One can imagine how patriotic a person with this mindset must be. Nikol Aghababyan’s painting of one of the churches in Gyumri hangs from the wall in my office, and I enjoy looking at the painting every day.”

Minister Hranush Hakobyan granted the Arshile Gorky Medal of the RA Ministry of Diaspora to Nikol Aghababyan on the occasion of his 50^th birthday and for achieving success in his career, disseminating and popularizing Armenian arts abroad, as well as making his contribution to the development of the Armenia-Diaspora partnership.

President of the Union of Artists of Armenia K. Aghamyan, Head of the Lorva Dzor Compatriotic Union, Head of the State Language Inspectorate at the RA Ministry of Education and Science S. Yeritsyan, as well as other intellectuals and guests congratulated the artist.

Head of the Department of Modern Arts at the RA Ministry of Culture, S. Geghamyan granted Aghababyan the Gold Medal of the RA Ministry of Culture.

Afterwards, Nikol Aghababyan gave a speech in which he expressed gratitude to the RA Minister of Diaspora for her high appreciation of his art and the award, as well as to the “Pyunik” Foundation and the RA Ministry of Culture for organizing his exhibition. Aghababyan mentioned that it was a great pleasure for him to participate in the charity exhibition-sale for the construction of the district for Syrian-Armenians and assured that he would be willing to make more contributions to similar initiatives in the future.