Regnum reports that the famous "vernatun" of Armenian national poet Hovhannes Tumanyan located in Tbilisi has been sold to a Georgian businessman for $25,000. The "Vernatun" was an upper story chamber that the poet used as gathering place for Armenian intellectuals, writers and artists of the day. Levon Ananyan, President of the Armenian Writers Union, has also confirmed the sale of this historic Armenian site. Mr. Ananyan states that the house appeared on the private market some 4-5 years ago at an asking price of $15,000. He notes that he petitioned the Armenian government to purchase the site at the time but that there was no follow-up on the matter. Mr. Ananyan was hopeful that the issue could be amicably resolved by the governments of Armenia and Karabakh on the 140th anniversary of Tumanyan's birthday. During an interview with "Hetq", Deputy Armen Bayanduryan of the Georgian Parliament and Director of the P.Adamyan Theater in Tbilisi noted that the Tumanyan library had been sold some ten years ago and that he had no news of any recent sale of property. This news was somewhat contradicted by Hovhannes Grigoryan, Secretary of the Writers Union, who stated that the sale of the library occurred within the past 10-15 days and expressed amazement over the 10 year claim. Mr. Grigoryan added that the site had been under the jurisdiction of the Tbilisi Mayor's Office, at the request of the Tumanyan heirs. He speculated that the transaction was the work of somebody with contacts in local government. The "Vernatun" was established by Hovhannes Tumanyan in 1899 at the house where he resided at Behrutyan Street #44 on the top fourth floor. Members of the literary group would meet once or twice a week to discuss and debate various literary and national issues. Permanent members included Ghazaros Aghayan, Avetik Isahakyan, Levon Shant, Derenik Demirjyan and Nikol Aghbalyan. Other noteworthy literary and artistic figures such as Mouratsan, Komitas, Proshyan, to name a few, also attended the gatherings .