William Saroyan house-museum has opened in the city of Fresno, CA, USA, in commemoration of playwright’s 110th birthday on Friday, August 31st.
It may look like an ordinary house in the district but Saroyan’s house is now completely renovated to contain a big digital archive of his photos and works.
The museum features Saroyan’s hologram with a setup of his desk and part of the house in its original way as Saroyan lived there, says Ashley Panoo on Fresno Bee website. The rest of the house is filled with photos, videos and interviews taken of Saroyan throughout the years, posters of his work and his drawings.
The grand opening of the house-museum welcomed City Councilmember Esmeralda Soria, founder of Renaissance Cultural and Intellectual foundation Artur Janibekyan and Fresno Mayor Lee Brand.
Soria said Saroyan grew up in what is now downtown Fresno because of a city law that blocked immigrants from owning or living in certain areas.
“Despite all of this, Saroyan still felt and left his heart here in Fresno,” she said.
Saroyan purchased the house 17 years before he died of cancer at Veterans Hospital. The Armenia-based Renaissance Cultural and Intellectual foundation purchased Saroyan’s house in 2015 and set on to renovate it in honor of Saroyan and the Armenian community.
The architect from the project MeroujanMinssian told Atcion News they wanted to design a museum that kids of all ages would like, ABC30 reported.
“Hologram is usually something that is fun for kids to see an actual character in actual space so that’s why we came up with the hologram thing,”saidMeroujanMinssian.
The museum opens its doors to the general public in mid-September and will operate every day, except Monday, from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.
