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Artsakh’s Shushi is gradually turning into a museum town, Minister of Culture, Youth Affairs and Tourism Lernik Hovhannisyan told his Armenian colleagues on Monday.

“We are trying to elaborate new policies in the cultural sector, especially toward libraries and museums,” he said during a meeting at the Armenian Ministry of Culture.

The official said a new building of the Historical-Geological Museum of Artsakh will be put into operation in 2019, with steps underway to transfer Shushi History Museum to a better place, the ministry said in a statement. 

“In general, Shushi is gradually turning into a museum town. It is home to the Dram Museum of the Armenian Central Bank, the Museum of Carpet Private Collections,” the minister said.

The statement stressed that the preservation of monuments is the most complex issue facing the Armenian and Artsakh cultural sectors amid limited funds. 120 million drams are allocated under the state budget for preservation of around 10,000 monuments in Artsakh, which fails to settle the issue. Meantime, authorities also rely on the financial assistance of philanthropists to deal with the problem. 

Artsakh culture minister says he expects active cooperation with his Armenian partners, particularly in the areas of monument restoration, expert trainings, book publication and cultural education.