Close to 500 individuals working in various arts and cultural sectors of Gyumri, have sent an open letter to RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan protesting the government’s plan to relocate several murals by the artist Minas Avetisyan.

Those who hve signed the petition say that while they have no problem with the decision to reinstall several recently restored murals to the Government Building in Yerevan, they oppose any move that would relocate the remaining murals from Gyumri as well.

The statement says that these murals belong to the city of Gyumri. In the 1970s several directorships of local factories paid the artist to paint murals at their production sites.