370,000 Euros Raised for Additional Building
October 22 was a historic day for the Hamazkayin Marseille Djemaran and, indeed, for the Hamazkayin family around the world. The number of applicants to study at the bilingual school by far surpasses available slots. Now, the foundations of a second building for the Djemaran were blessed in the presence of high-ranking state, clerical, party, organizational, and educational representatives, donors and friends.
The ceremony began in the Djemaran yard with the French and Armenian national anthems and the Djemaran anthem. Archimandrite Grigor Khachatryan, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of France, Archbishop Shahan Sarkisian, and Marseille Beaumont parish priest Fr. Archen Movsesyan performed the religious ceremony.
Zakar Keshishian, chairperson of the Hamazkayin Central Executive Board, invited various people to add a handful of soil to the foundation. The principal of the Djemaran, Shaké Jamgotchian, added a handful of soil from Armenia; Djemaran Board of Trustees chairperson Gilbert Markoyan, soil from Artsakh; former chairperson of the Hamazkayin Central Executive Board and current member of the Bureau of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dr. Megerdich Megerdichian, soil from the original Hamazkayin Nishan Palandjian Djemaran in Beirut; vice chairperson of the Hamazkayin Central Executive Board Tamar Der Bedrossian, soil from the grave of Hamazkayin cofounder Kasbar Ipegian; Hamazkayin Central Executive Board member and representative in Europe Hasmig Shahinian, soil from the grave of Hamazkayin cofounder Nigol Aghpalian; Shushan Seghbosian Shant Gaheri, soil from the grave of her grandfather, Hamazkayin cofounder Levon Shant; principal of the M. and H. Arslanian Djemaran in Lebanon Dr. Paola Yeghiayan, soil from the Arslanian Djemaran; chairperson of the Hamazkayin-Tarkmanchats College in Issy-les-Moulineaux Tadeh Garabedian, soil from the college. In addition, a vial holding founding documents was buried in the foundation.
