Justice in Armenia: Saving Yerevan’s Cultural Heritage

We collaborated with activist photographer Hayk Bianjyan and the advocacy organization Victims of State Need, to produce videos documenting the unlawful destruction of buildings in Armenia’s capital. Yerevan’s historic architecture—the most visible manifestation of its cultural heritage—is being destroyed at an alarming rate. Many of the city’s historic buildings have been destroyed to make way for ultra-modern and largely empty buildings. Our videos gave our partners evidence of this destruction that they deployed in their advocacy and litigation. Sadly, while these efforts did help to delay some demolitions and allowed Mr. Bianjian to document this history for posterity—most of the destruction has gone forward.