The towering Armenian Genocide Martyrs Monument on a Montebello hilltop is now a California State Historical Landmark.
Sen. Bob Archuleta, D-Pico Rivera, celebrated the State Historical Resources Commission’s unanimous vote designating the 56-year-old memorial as a state landmark on Friday. Archuleta said his ties to Montebello helped him recognize the importance of the monument to the Armenian community and why he’s spent years advocating for the recognition.
“This is a really big deal for all Armenian Americans in the U.S. and not just California,” said community leader Murad Minasian. “I’m lucky enough to drive by it almost every day and extremely proud that the city I live in opened its arms in the 1960s and took a stand against strong opposition by external forces to allow such a beautiful structure to be erected in remembrance of the Armenian genocide.”
Minasian’s father, Michael, helped rally the project to completion as a founding member of its monument council.
Archuleta led a delegation in celebrating the site’s new status. Others at the event included Salvador Melendez, mayor of Montebello; Archbishop Hovnan Derderian of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church; Monsignor Parsegh Baghdassarian of Our Lady of Nareg in Glendale; and twin brothers Nick and Dylan Khatchikian, members of the Mesrobian High School basketball team in Pico Rivera. They will be recognized for breaking the state CIF points and assists records.
The Armenian Genocide Martyrs Monument was designed as a modern interpretation of traditional Armenian church architecture in 1968. It was the first major monument in the United States dedicated to the Armenian genocide, the killing and deportation of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s led to the death of one and a half million Armenians.
The monument’s recognition honors the past and educates future generations about the Armenian spirit of resilience and cultural identity, Archuleta said.
Christopher Guldjian, president of the board of trustees at Mesrobian School, remembers going to the monument “to heal the traumatic events that have affected the Armin nation, feeling a sense of belonging and community because we knew where to go to find each other.”
Guldjian added: “The monument was not only to commemorate the victims of the genocide rather to celebrate our survival and that stayed with me throughout my organizational life with the Armenian community.
“Visiting the monument gave us new life and purpose each year to continue the struggle for recognition and justice for the Armenian people,” he said. “In fact, the most special memories I had was going at night to the monument on the eve of April 24 to hear the poetry and songs of our forefathers and those were the words that carried us year to year.”
April 24 is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.