Digital House of Artsakh Culture - artsakhian.org, a digital platform created to collect, preserve, and promote the intangible cultural heritage of Artsakh, was presented in Yerevan. The platform was initiated by the We Are Our Mountains Development Agency, founded by Ruben Vardanyan, with the support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Following the forced displacement of the Armenian population of Artsakh in September 2023, the natural continuity of cultural transmission was also disrupted. The dialect, folklore, rituals and customs, songs and music, traditional knowledge, and numerous expressions of everyday culture that had been passed down from generation to generation in their natural cultural environment now require particular attention, documentation, and preservation.

“It was important for us that Artsakh be represented in the digital world through the culture it has created. In this digital house, everything is interconnected — language, memory, people, and stories. Here, the culture of Artsakh is presented not as a closed chapter of the past, but as a living culture,” said Narine Aghabalyan, Deputy Director of the We Are Our Mountains Development Agency and Project Lead.

The structure of Digital House of Artsakh Culture is based on UNESCO’s five domains of intangible cultural heritage. It encompasses oral traditions and expressions, including folklore; performing arts; social practices, rituals and festive events; knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe; and traditional craftsmanship. The platform also serves as a digital repository, bringing together a library, video archive, photo archive, audio archive, and dictionary.

Lernik Hovhannisyan, a member of the scholarly team involved in creating the platform, emphasized the significance of the initiative in the context of the threats currently facing the cultural heritage of Artsakh.

“Against the backdrop of recent developments, as Azerbaijan pursues a policy of cultural ethnocide aimed at erasing the Armenian presence in Artsakh, with the tacit consent of the international community, this platform enables us to present our homeland and ensure that the story of Artsakh - every page of it - remains open to all of us and is never closed,” Hovhannisyan mentioned.

During the presentation, the team introduced the concept behind the platform, its structure, the principles guiding its content, and directions for further development. The project team also invited people from Artsakh, researchers, and families holding private archives to share photographs, videos, audio recordings, personal accounts, and other materials that can contribute to preserving the cultural memory of Artsakh.

In his professional assessment of the platform, historian and cultural studies scholar Hamlet Petrosyan emphasized the importance of scholarly accuracy and professional responsibility.

“Our success lies in presenting our culture in a detailed, precise, and impartial way. Under these difficult circumstances, a professional approach is also a moral standard. This platform is an exceptional undertaking, and I am truly impressed by what has been accomplished,” Petrosyan said.

The public presentation of the platform does not mark the completion of the work. Rather, Digital House of Artsakh Culture is entering a new stage of development. Its content and digital repositories will continue to expand through the inclusion of new scholarly and private archives, oral testimonies, and other materials. The aim is for the platform to become a continuously growing, open, and reliable source of knowledge that preserves the living cultural memory of Artsakh and passes it on to future generations.