Armenian Ambassador to Romania Hamlet Gasparyan Visits Historical Armenopolis City

YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS: Armenia’s Ambassador to Romania Hamlet Gasparyan visited June 18-19 Gherla and met with the mayor of the city Dragan-Giurgean Ionel-Ovidiu. He took part in the ceremonies of the holiday of Saint Gregory the Illuminator at Holy Trinity Armenian Cathedral. An official from the press and information department of RA Foreign Affairs Ministry told Armenpress that during the June 19 discussion, held in the municipality, the participants exchanged thoughts on preserving the Armenian rich cultural heritage of Gherla, as well as on establishing relations with Armenia.

Mayor Dragan-Giurgean Ionel-Ovidiu informed that the hitorical center of Gherla, where old Armenian buildings and establishements are still preserved, is the treasure of the city, which is under the sepcial protection of the municipial athorities. The speakers expressed readiness to continue the consultations with Armenia in the direction of establishing relations in a decentralized level.

The Armenian Ambassador gave a number of interviews to the Romanian TVR 1 Central TV, as well as to some local Romanion and Hungarian TV programs. Gherla city was built in the early 18th century by Armenians, successors of the Cilician Armenian Diaspora, who had originally settled in Crimea and Moldavia and moved to Transylvania sometime after 1650. Gherla is one of the rare cities of Romania, which is built in baroque by Alexis, Armenian architect from Rome. For nearly a century the city was called Armenopolis (Hayakaghak). Until 1918 the mayors of the city were mainly Armenians.