“Constantinople and Beyond”-this was the title of Levon Latchikyan’s personal exhibition, which was recently held in New York and was the fifteenth one. Over the past couple of years, the focus of the famous aesthetician-drawer has been on the past and present of the historic city of Constantinople spread along the coast of the Bosphorus. Evidence of this are his three visits to Constantinople-Istanbul, the purpose of which was to not only tour “the districts of Constantinople”, but also convey the charm of those districts.

“Constantinople is first and foremost attractive in terms of its natural beauty-the Bosphorus strait, the Prince Islands and more,” Levon Latchikyan said in an interview with Hayern Aysor, adding the following: “It attracts people with its multicultural environment and various civilizations, including the Armenian civilization.” The great Armenian Constantinople or, as the local Armenians of Constantinople say, “our Constantinople” is truly seen in the works of Latchikyan.

“We must not forget that the Armenians of Constantinople have lived and continue to live with bitter memories of 1915 and the succeeding political and economical terror for over a century. In spite of all this, today, the active Armenian community of Constantinople continues to live, and the best indicator of its viability is the Armenian media, including the Zhamanak, Marmara, Agos and Louys newspapers and Paros cultural magazine,” our interlocutor continued.

It was the Paros cultural magazine that organized Latchikyan’s exhibition called “Constantinople: Near and Far” in the Armenian-populated Gnale Island in Constantinople and particularly wrote the following: “Levon Latchikyan’s Constantinople has a beauty that is totally different.” Let us also cite the opinion of correspondent for Agos Weekly’s Armenian supplement Bagrat Esdougian: “As we viewed Levon Latchikyan’s works, we noticed that he truly manages to penetrate into the past while living in the present. By looking at the old structures in Constantinople, he manages to see the past of the century-old and even centuries-old history of those structures and shows that in his works.”

This time, the artist visited New York at the invitation of the local circles of Armenians of Istanbul. The exhibition, which opened in Toufaian Hall of the St. Mary’s Armenian Church, was followed by an interesting lecture entitled “The Role of Constantinople in the History of Armenian Culture”. The speaker presented known and unknown facts about not only the past, but also the present of Constantinople and particularly stated the fact that, after a long interval, one can notice that the Armenians of Constantinople are playing a major role in culture and literature once again and are reaffirming that role.

According to the speaker, he has placed great emphasis on the challenges that the Armenian community of Constantinople has faced, the major one of which is the sharp decline of the number of Armenian-speaking Armenians. The fact of the matter is that, based on studies, today, only 9% of the young Armenians speak in their native language. What’s more, according to the speaker, the number of not only learners, but also teachers is falling year after year. In this sense, he provided details about the effective activities that the Union of Turkish-Armenian Teachers has been carrying out for the past 50 years.

The attendees asked questions and discussed issues as they viewed over 40 works. Part of the proceeds from the sales of those paintings ($1,300) has been transferred to the needy families of Gyumri. Taking the opportunity, the artist from Armenia also transmitted the Gold Medal of the RA Ministry of Diaspora to the Constantinople-Armenians Relief Society (CARS).

The last stop of Levon Latchikyan’s visit was the Holy Martyrs’ Armenian Church in New York where he presented his drawings during an exhibition. During the event, the artist donated a picture portraying the Armenian church to the local Armenian community. The event marked the launch of the series of ceremonies dedicated to the 60^th anniversary of the Holy Martyrs’ Armenian Church.