The U.S. Embassy in Armenia marked the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) on November 2, 2011 at the Aram Khachaturyan House Museum in Yerevan. During the celebration, the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern and Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan took part in a ceremonial signing for the restoration of the Garni Medieval Bridge, the 2011 AFCP initiative. The $110,000 U.S.-funded Garni Medieval Bridge project is the largest AFCP project received by Armenia. Guests, government officials, and Armenia’s past AFCP project recipients recognized the role of the fund in preserving Armenia’s cultural legacy and a shared world heritage. Since its approval by the U.S. Congress in the fall of 2000, the U.S. Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation has funded more than 640 cultural preservation projects in over 100 countries, representing a contribution of nearly $26 million towards the preservation of cultural heritage worldwide. The Fund supports a wide range of projects that work to preserve cultural heritage including the restoration of historic buildings, assessment and conservation of museum collections, archaeological site preservation, documentation of vanishing traditional craft techniques, improved storage conditions for archives and manuscripts, and documentation of indigenous languages. In Armenia the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation has supported the following projects: • 2005 - The Armenian National Film and Photo Archive: the creation of climate controlled storage space for the Armenian film, photo, and audio archives. • 2007 - The Tatev Scholarly Center in Syunik Region: the clearing and preservation of the Center’s compound. • 2009 - Noratus Medieval Cemetery and Collection of Khachkars: the mapping and cataloging of the site and fence installation. • 2010 - Documentation of Traditional Armenian Music and Dance (in progress). • 2011 - Preservation of a Medieval Masonry Bridge in the Garni Gorge. For more information on the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation, as well as a complete list of funded projects, please visit: http://exchanges.state.gov/culprop/afcp/

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