On 24 October, a delegation from the Lyon City Hall visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex to pay tribute to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide.
The delegation included Lyon Deputy Mayor responsible for biodiversity issues Sofia Popof, Director of the Biodiversity and Urban Nature Department Sebastian Bouche, and Head of Human Rights, Urban Diplomacy and Climate Diplomacy Programmes Julien Courten.
The guests were welcomed by Lusine Abrahamyan, Deputy Director for Museum Work of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. She presented the history of the construction of the Memorial Complex, its architectural features and significance.
Mrs. Sofia Popof laid a wreath at the monument perpetuating the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide, after which the guests laid flowers at the eternal flame, paying tribute to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide.
Lusine Abrahamyan accompanied the guests to the Memory Wall, in special niches at the back of which are kept small urns filled with soil taken from the graves of a number of foreign public and political figures, intellectuals and missionaries who raised their voices in protest against the massacres and genocide of Armenians carried out by the Turkish government in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The guests listened with great interest especially about the pro-Armenian activities of Anatole France and Louis Dartige du Fournet.
The members of the delegation from France toured the Armenian Genocide Museum, viewing the permanent and temporary exhibitions. At the end of the visit, Sofia Popof made an entry in the Book of Honoured Guests.
