Figurine of Paruyr Sevak (hand-painted)

Paruyr Rafaelovitch Ghazaryan was born on January 24, 1924. His family moved from Western Armenia to Armenia in 1915, fleeing from genocide. Parents of Sevak settled in the village of Chanakhchi of the Ararat region, where Paruyr was born. After graduating from school with honors in 1940, Sevak entered the Philological Faculty of Yerevan State University. His first poems appear in the «Soviet Literature» journal, under the pseudonym «Paruyr Sevak»- in honor of the outstanding Western Armenian poet Ruben Sevak, who became a victim of the Genocide. In 1955, he graduated from the Gorky Institute in Moscow, and until 1959 he taught there. During these years, he found his love – Nina Menagarishvili, who became his wife. Two sons were born in their marriage. In the early sixties, Sevak returned to Armenia. He wrote poetry, worked at the Yerevan Institute of Literature named after Abeghyan, received a doctorate in philological sciences. A tragic accident ended the life of the poet in 1971 – he died with his wife in a car accident. Paruyr Sevak is a Poet with a capital P. His life and creative work serve as a vivid example of adherence to true values and categories. The biggest and most famous work of the poet, which became the main one in his life and creative work is the poem «The Unsilenceable Belfry». The work is dedicated to the 1915 genocide. It is based on the fate of the Armenian enlightener and composer Komitas, who shared the terrible tragedy with the Armenian people.