Aleksandr Tamanyan, grandson of the famous architect and city planner of the same name that drafted the urban plan of Yerevan early last century, said today that important city landmarks should not be razed, even if it is to build new churches. Apparently in a reference to the recent uproar created over the proposed demolition of the summer open air amphitheatre next to Cinema Moscow in order to construct a church that existed in the area and was torn down in the 1930’s, Mr. Tamanyan said that while new churches should be built to fill a need on the part of the faithful. It shouldn’t be done at the expense of edifices that exist today and have a history of their own. Mr. Tamanyan said it difficult to quantify the need for churches as opposed to, say, the need for kindergartens. Mkrtich Minasyan, President of the Union of Architects, said that his professional organization was not opposed to churches or their construction but the preservation of existing values. "It is not mandatory to demolish existing structures where churches once stood in order to build new ones," he said.