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Yerevan is an interesting capital city and it is also a trip to one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world. Ruins from the city’s early times such as the fortress Erebuni and the Christian era that began as early as the 300s are visible signs of the modern city’s early beginnings.
Throughout the 1900s, the city grew from 30,000 inhabitants to house more than one million people, and it is a fine example of Soviet development, drawing inspiration from traditional Armenian architecture. Between the buildings there are parks, lakes and in general an airy and lovely atmosphere.
The center of the city is full of designed buildings in imposing architecture. They were to symbolize the ability of Soviet Armenia, and the city’s large squares and wide boulevards tie things together in a distinguished way.
North of Central Republic Square stands the city’s opera and then the stairwell and fountain named Cascade, that is not seen anywhere else in the world. The Cascade is a must see and climb, and at the top there are several monuments such as Mother Armenia; and from here is a great view of Yerevan and to the historic Armenian mountain Ararat.
Fine museums, green parks and delicious food are also one of the experiences in Yerevan, where interesting purchases can be found in the colossal Malatia market or around in the streets of Yerevan.
The Cascade is a monumental staircase structure that was carved into the bedrock and leads up a hill from the central part of Yerevan. The facility was conceived in principle already in the 1920s by the city architect Alexander Tamanian, who wanted to connect the central part of Yerevan with the northern and higher-lying suburbs with a green belt that would contain cascades of water and several garden facilities. However, Tamanian’s plans were shelved for many decades before being rediscovered.
From 1976 to 1988, most of the current facility was established. The starting point was Tamanian’s plan, but grandiose staircases, courtyards, plateaus and indoor halls were added. The Cascade was to be built up to the 50-year monument on top of the hill above the Cascade, but due to the earthquake in Armenia in 1988 and since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, construction was stopped before the summit was reached. However, there are plans and construction underway for the missing part of the Cascade.
In 2002, Gerard Cafesjian initiated a renovation and completion of the Kaskaden. The work took seven years and the result was a combined public facility for strolling and an art center named after Cafesjian.
The dimensions of the cascade are impressive. There are 572 steps on the 450 meter long path from the start of the structure to the platform at the top. On the way up, you can enjoy many details in the rich ornamentation, and there are fine installations and platforms with installed works of art and fountains.
In the lower part of the facility, you can admire art in a sculpture garden, where large works by, among others, Fernando Botero and Barry Flanagan are on display. In Kaskaden’s inner halls, parts of Cafesijan’s art center are arranged as an actual art museum, which organizes changing exhibitions. This is also where there are escalators that can be used if you want to get to the top without using the outdoor stairs.
Republic Square is Yerevan’s central square, surrounded by a series of stately buildings built during Armenia’s Soviet era. Planning for the modern capital began with Armenian architect Alexander Tamanian’s 1924 town plan, and work on the current Republic Square began two years later. The style was to be imposingly Soviet with inspiration from traditional Armenian architecture, and it succeeded completely.
The square forms an oval with a fountain that extends to the northeast in front of the building of the National Gallery and History Museum of Armenia. The oval is surrounded by buildings designed for symmetry, and a green facility to the southwest completes the beautiful whole. The center of the square was paved with stones laid in a pattern that visualizes a traditional Armenian carpet from the air.
The four surrounding rounded buildings are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the north, the Marriott Hotel to the west, the Ministry of Transport and Communications to the south and government offices to the east. It is on this building that you can see the square’s large tower clock. The buildings were constructed from the late 1920s to the early 1950s.
Previously, Republic Square was named after the Soviet leader Lenin, and the city’s Lenin statue stood on the southern part of the square. The statue was inaugurated in 1940 on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Soviet rule in Armenia.
In the evening, there is a special atmosphere in the square, as the beautiful illumination of the surrounding buildings is accompanied by a large fountain that springs in different colors and heights to accompanying music. It’s an experience that takes place Tuesday-Sunday starting at 9 p.m.
Tsitsernakaberd is a monument erected to commemorate the Armenian Genocide of 1915. The genocide was carried out by the Turkish Ottomans from 1915 and the following years. It often happened quite brutally and, among other things, during mass deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. There is international uncertainty about the number of people killed during the systematic deportations, but estimates point to at least one million victims.
The monument itself was erected in the years 1966-1968 to mark the 50th anniversary of the genocide. The monument’s 44-meter-high stele symbolizes the rebirth of the Armenian people, and the twelve stones placed in a circle are a symbol of the twelve Armenian provinces that are today under Turkish administration in Turkey. In the center of the twelve stones burns an eternal flame.
On the way from the Museum of the Armenian Genocide to the stele and the twelve stones, there is a hundred-meter-long wall in which the names of the Armenian towns and villages where massacres occurred during the Turkish genocide of the Armenians are engraved.
There used to be a defensive structure from the Iron Age on the site, and archaeological excavations have found remains of, among other things, a longer wall. Later, there have also been various buildings on the hill and in the area.
The Museum of the Armenian Genocide opened in 1995 on the 80th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, in which Turkish Ottomans from 1915 killed an estimated at least one million Armenians. The museum was established as a memorial to the victims of the genocide and as a place of information to prevent something similar from happening in the future.
The museum depicts the events during the Turkish deportations and mass killings of Armenians through objective presentation rather than conclusive narratives. The museum’s exhibition thus speaks for itself about what happened mainly in the western Armenian regions, which today lie within Turkey’s borders.
The Armenian state takes guests here on official state visits, and for example the Russian presidents Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, France’s Jacques Chirac and Pope John Paul II have been here. In front of the museum are a number of conifers with name plates. They have been planted by official guests in recognition of the genocide taking place.
St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral is the largest Armenian-Apostolic church building, and it stands as a symbol of the Christian faith of the Armenians. The building was completed in 2001 to mark the 1700th anniversary of the introduction of Christianity as Armenia’s official religion. In the year 301, Armenia became the first country in the world to officially convert to Christianity. In the central area of the cathedral, 1,700 churchgoers can sit.
At the opening of the cathedral, the relics of St. Gregory the Illuminator were brought here from Italy. Gregory the Illuminator is believed to have lived in the years 257-331. He is the patron saint and the first head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He is credited with having Christianized the Armenians, and he had, among other things, the cathedral in nearby Vagharshapat (Echmiadzin) built.
In Yerevan, there has previously been another church dedicated to Saint Gregory the Illuminator. It was built 1869-1900 and demolished at the end of the 1940s.
Matenadaran is an institute and museum for a unique collection of manuscripts that have weight in the early Middle Ages. The institute was established in 1920, not least on the basis of the nationalized collection from the Armenian Apostolic Church.
The current building was built between 1945 and 1957, and in 1962 the place was named after the founder of the Armenian alphabet, Mesrop Mashtots, who can be seen together with a student in the form of a statue in front of the staircase of the museum building. In front of the museum itself is a series of statues of famous Armenians in various academic disciplines.
Matenadaran’s collection consists of more than 17,000 manuscripts and over 30,000 other documents, which collectively cover e.g. philosophy, geography, history, medicine and science. The majority are Armenian, but there are also, for example, Hebrew, Persian and Russian writings in the collection.
The museum’s exhibited collection is a cornucopia of beautiful old texts, many of which were illustrated using colors from nature. The colors still appear as original, and you can also see the content of the color ingredients on display in the fine rooms, where you can see, among other things, the largest manuscript in the collection, which weighs a whopping 27 kilos.
Mother Armenia is a personification of the Armenian state in the form of a 24-meter tall female statue that looks out over Yerevan from its place on a ridge north of the city center. The statue symbolizes peace through strength and faces Mount Ararat and Turkey with a raised sword as a symbol of Armenia’s struggle and independence. A special meaning of the statue is the will of the Armenian women to defend the motherland.
Mother Armenia was erected in 1967 to replace a statue of Soviet leader Josef Stalin that had been taken down in 1962. The Stalin monument was dedicated in 1950 to commemorate the Soviet victory in World War II. In the 36-metre-high pedestal, a museum for the events of World War II was set up from the start, and now the museum also reflects the freedom struggle in the 1980s-1990s to achieve Armenian independence in the area of Nagorno-Karabakh, which historically belongs to the Armenian province of Artsakh.
Sejrsparken is a park that got its name from the Soviet Union’s victory in World War II. The park is a nice recreational area where, in addition to being able to see various monuments and the green surroundings, you can also take a trip to the amusement park Luna Park/Луна парк.
In the park you can also find a number of monuments to heroes during various wars such as World War 2 and the war in Afghanistan 1979-1989, and here is also the monument to Mother Armenia/Майр Армения. The park is located high above the center of Yerevan, and from the area of Mother Armenia there is a distinguished view.
The Yerevan Opera was founded in 1932, and the opening took place on January 20, 1933. The building is the work of Alexander Tamanian, and his Armenian-neoclassical ideas come through quite clearly here as in his other buildings that helped make Yerevan a modern and magnificent capital.
Yerevan’s opera house is also home to the city’s philharmonic orchestra. It is in the so-called Aram Khatjaturian Concert Hall The building was designed in the 1930s and, among other things, was mainly renovated in the years 1978-1980.
The opera building is surrounded by a green park area, where you can, among other things, take a beautiful walk around the Swan Lake/Карапі лії. The square immediately to the south of the opera is called Freedom Square/Азатутьный плавный, and it is named after the Armenian War of Independence for the region of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).
North of the opera is the large France Square, which, in addition to green areas, has several statues of Armenian artists erected. Immediately in front of the opera house stands the composer Aram Khatjatarian, to the east the composer Komitas Vardapet and to the west the painter Martiros Saryan.
The Historical Museum of Armenia is an interesting museum that serves as the country’s national museum. It was established as an anthropological-ethnographic museum library in 1919, and since then it has been developed with wide collections.
The museum depicts the history of the Armenian area, people and culture from prehistoric times to the present day. Over the past millennia, many peoples and kingdoms have influenced Armenian culture; among others Egyptians, Hittites, Assyrians, Romans and Byzantines, before Russia and the Soviet Union became dominated in recent centuries.
Among the countless effects in the museum’s collections are bronze works from the 1000-2000s BC. and finds from the kingdom of Urartu, such as the testimony of King Argushti I about the founding of the city of Erebuni, which is today’s Yerevan. The presentation of Armenia’s early Christian era in the 3rd-4th centuries is also an interesting theme at the museum.
Yerevan Brandby Factory is one of Yerevan’s well-known places, whose main building is located on top of a hill at the end of the Victory Bridge/កា្រានាន្រ្រាន្រាន្រ្នានា្នានានានា្ន្រេ The architect Ovanes Markarian used the site’s topography to create a vantage point in the city with the large staircase leading up to the factory’s main building with nine large arches in the facade.
Yerevan Brandy Factory is a spirits producer whose largest and best-known product is the brandy Ararat. You can take a tour of the factory and thereby get to know the production and the various brandy products from the factory.
The Blue Mosque is a mosque believed to have been built in the middle of the 18th century. It probably happened under the local governor Husayn Ali Khan. The mosque was the main mosque for Yerevan’s Muslim community, and when Russia captured Yerevan in 1827, it was also the largest of the city’s then eight functioning mosques. At that time there was, among other things, a large prayer hall, a library and a school.
In 1931 the mosque was closed, and in 1936 a city museum was set up in the beautiful building. At the end of the 1990s, the mosque was thoroughly renovated with support from Iran, and now the Blue Mosque functions as an active mosque again. The facility’s most characteristic elements are the dome on the central prayer hall and the 24-metre high minaret.
The English Garden is one of central Yerevan’s largest parks. It opened in 1910 as the city’s first public park and quickly enjoyed great popularity for recreation. It was laid out according to the European model and got its name from there. Today, there are many sculptures set up in the park’s green surroundings, which also include fountains and walking paths.
The main railway station in Yerevan is an impressive station building from the Soviet era. The railway came to Yerevan in 1902, when a line was established north to Tbilisi and Alexandropol, today called Gyumri. In 1908, the city was connected to the south to Persia, making Yerevan a hub for traffic, and more railways were built over the years.
The original railway station was a smaller, single-storey building in the Russian architectural style. The current main railway station was completed in 1956 as one of the finest examples in the city of the sky-high Soviet architecture of the 1950s, as it is also known from other places in the union. In and by the station you can visit a small railway museum.
In the square in front of Yerevan’s main railway station, you can see an equestrian statue of David of Sasun/Сасунци Давит, locally called Sasuntsi Davit. The statue was erected in 1959 as a tribute to the epic hero David of Sasun, who in history drove invading Arabs out of Armenia.
According to the legend, David did not want to shed the blood of the enemy and therefore challenged its leader Msyrmelik, who was the head of the Arab caliphate Msyr. On the horse Dzhalali, David overcame the Arabs with a fierce force which he is said to use again if the land is threatened.
Erebuni Museum is the museum for the excavation of Erebuni Fort and thus the earliest roots of present-day Yerevan. The museum is located immediately in front of the excavation area, and since 1968 it has been possible to see many effects from the old Erebuni at the museum.
Erebuni was founded by the Urartian king Argishti I in 782 BC. after the kingdom of Urartu’s successful conquest of this area, which was the northern part of the great Armenian land of the time. At the Erebuni Museum, the history of Urarturiget is depicted, and there are also exhibitions on, for example, weapons, craftsmanship, religion and power relations in the kingdom.
Erebuni Fort is quite a large ruin of a fort with associated buildings from the historical Armenian kingdom of Urartu. The fort was one of several and at the same time among the most important along the kingdom’s northern border. The location on top of a hill overlooking the river valley was strategically important for the defense of the area, and in time it was also Erebuni that developed into today’s Yerevan.
Larger excavations of the ruin area were started in 1952, and since then, among other things, King Argishti I’s palace, temples and a number of rooms have been excavated. Various effects and murals have been found during the work. So much has been preserved that you can form an impression of the place and of the good position it was built on in its time.
Zvartnots Cathedral is an area of beautiful ruins in an archaeological excavation of the cathedral that was built from the year 642. It happened under the katholicos Nerses III at the very place where the meeting between King Tiridates III and Gregory the Light-Bringer is said to have taken place. In 653 the cathedral was consecrated, although its construction continued thereafter.
Most of Armenia belonged to Byzantium at the time of construction. With the then Arab invasion of, among other things, the patriarchate city of Dvin, Nerses III moved the patriarchate and thereby the katholicos residence to Zvartnots.
At the end of the 900s, Zvartnot’s Cathedral was turned into a ruin. The reason is not historically documented, but the cathedral’s ruins remained buried until the beginning of the 20th century. During the archaeologists’ work in the years 1901-1907, the foundations for the cathedral and the katholicos residence were excavated. Today you can see the ruins, and they have been partially restored, so you get a good impression of the grandeur of the cathedral at that time. Behind Zvartnot’s Cathedral, Mount Ararat rises as a beautiful backdrop for the ruins.
Zvartnots Cathedral, together with the nearby cathedral and churches of Vagharshapat (Echmiadzin), was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000.
The city of Vagharshapat, also known as Echmiadzin, is the religious center of Armenia, being a Catholicate and thus the seat of the katholicos, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. In Vagharshapat there are several churches, the city’s cathedral and the mother seat of the ecclesiastical headquarters in the country.
The Mother Cathedral of Saint Echmiadzin/Майр Тачёр Сурб Эджмиацизн [Mayr Tajar Surb Ejmiatsin] (Komitas Square) is among the oldest churches in the world. It is included in UNESCO’s list of world heritage sites and was built by Saint Gregor the Light-Bringer in the years 301-303. It happened when Armenia had become the world’s first Christian country. The church has later been changed several times; among other things in 480, when it got its current basic form.
Extensions have been made since then, and the bell towers date from the 17th century. In the cathedral there is a museum with various works of art and relics such as the relic of the holy lance that wounded Jesus on the cross. Outside the building, a number of katholicos are buried.
Around the cathedral is the area of the Mother See of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The patriarchal residence of the katholicos can be seen to the west of the cathedral through the Tiridates gate, and in other of the buildings there is a seminary. The park around the cathedral is a peaceful place, and on a stroll here you can see a row of old cross stones lined up along the outer wall.
Another of Vagharshapat’s churches is Sankt Hripsime Church/Сурб Хріппсимэхі чемліді (Mesrop Mashtots Street). It was built by katholicos Komitas in 618 on the site where katholicos Sahak erected a mausoleum for the martyr Saint Hripsime in 395. In pre-Christian times, there was a temple on this site. The church has not been significantly changed since its construction.
Saint Hripsime was a nun in Rome who had to marry Emperor Diocletian against her will. She fled with the nun Gayané to Armenia, where King Tiridates tracked down Hripsime after a letter from Diocletian. The nun also did not want to enter into marriage with the king, and according to tradition, she was tortured on the site of the church. Elsewhere in Vagharshapat, a church was built in Gayané’s name in the year 630 on the site where Gayané had been tortured.
Khor Virap is a monastery of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Beautifully situated on a small mountain on the Ararat Plain at the foot of the dormant volcano Ararat, Khor Virap is one of Armenia’s landmarks and most visited pilgrimage sites.
The monastery is historically significant, as the later Saint Gregory the Light-Bearer spent 13 years in prison here under King Tiridates III. Later it was St. Gregory who persuaded Tiridates III to make Christianity the state religion in Armenia, the first country in the world.
The first chapel on the site was built in 642 under the ecclesiastical leader katholicos Nerses III, and over the centuries new church and monastery buildings were repeatedly erected. The central Sankt Astvatsatsin Church dates, like the surrounding walls, from the 17th century. In one corner of the walls is a small chapel built on the descent to the hole deep in the mountain where St. Gregory the Lightbringer was imprisoned. There is a narrow ladder leading down to the dungeon itself.
The view from Khor Virap is breathtaking. To the west lies the historically Armenian and biblical Mount Ararat, whose two peaks reach 5,137 meters and 3,896 meters respectively. In the same direction lies the current border between Armenia and Turkey, and towards the other corners of the world stretch, among other things, vineyards, villages and the Armenian mountains.
Garni Temple is a well-preserved pagan temple that was built in the 100s. The style is Greco-Roman, and around the central room of the temple are 24 Ionic columns. The temple was destroyed by an earthquake in 1679, but as the stones remained in place, it could be rebuilt, which happened in 1969-1975.
Even as a pagan temple in Christian Armenia, Garni was preserved. However, a church and a mansion for katholicos were also built on the site, but these lie in ruins today. The same is the case for the site’s other buildings, which included a royal summer palace used by the Orodtid and Artaxiad dynasties. There was also a bathhouse here, of which part of a beautiful floor mosaic has been preserved.
The surroundings around Garni Temple are fantastic. Deep down in a huge gorge, the river Azat meanders through the otherwise dry landscape and creates an extra green belt surrounded by characteristic basalt columns.
The view over the area emphasizes the strategically good location, which already in the millennium BC. caused the regents of the country to establish defensive positions on the spot. The view stretches from the river at the bottom of the canyon to snow-capped mountain peaks.
Geghard Monastery is breathtakingly beautiful in the Armenian mountains, in which it is partly carved out. The monastery was founded in the 4th century by Gregor the Lightbringer, as a holy spring sprung here in a cave. That is why it was formerly called the Cave Monastery, while its current name refers to the holy lance that wounded Jesus on the cross. It was brought here by the apostle Thaddeus. Since then, the relic has been moved to the mother cathedral in the city of Vagharshapat (Echmiadzin), where it can be seen in the cathedral’s museum.
Geghard Monastery with its beautiful location between the mountains in the gorge of the Azat river is included in the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage. The earliest monastery was expanded with several buildings after the fourth century, but the site was destroyed by Arabs in the ninth century.
The current church in Geghard Monastery dates from 1215, and many of the other buildings also date from the 13th century. This applies, for example, to several chapels that were carved out of the rocks, and the church’s narthex, which is among the most beautiful of its kind in Armenia. The vestibule roof is supported by large columns, and the room forms the entrance to both the church and chapels. Around the church is the central courtyard. There are walls around this part and they gave peace and acted as defense.
With its 940 km², Lake Sevan is the largest lake in Armenia and the largest freshwater lake in the Caucasus. The lake lies beautifully in the countryside at approximately 1,900 meters above sea level. One can enjoy Armenian landscapes and resorts along the lake, where one can also visit Sevanavank monastery.
Until the 1900s Soviet Union, the water level in the lake was about 22 meters higher than it is today. Large plans for artificial irrigation and hydropower caused the water to drop drastically in a few years, with an approaching ecological catastrophe as a result. The water level decreased by more than one meter per year, and only by supplying water from two rivers that do not flow into Lake Sevan, the situation was stabilized.
In recent years, the water level has risen several meters again, but it is not planned to reach higher than the current water level, as the area around the lake has been developed considerably. The difference between the original and the current lake can be seen, for example, by the old road that goes up the mountainside, and by the concrete spring tower that today stands several kilometers from the lake north of the highway from Yerevan.
One of the biggest attractions around Lake Sevan is the Sevan monastery, which before the lake’s falling water level was located on an island. The monastery was founded in 874 by King Ashot I and his daughter Mariam. The king used it as a fortified residence, and over time it has also served as a refuge for Armenian nobles who had been sent into exile. The place functioned as a monastery until 1930, when the last monk left Sevan.
Due to the drop in Sevan Lake’s water level, the monastery is located on a peninsula today, and cars and buses can drive all the way to the foot of the more than 200 steps that lead up to Sevan Monastery. Up here, you are rewarded with a beautiful view of Sevan Sø, which looks like an ocean for confusion. Lake Sevan consists of Little Sevan to the north and Great Sevan to the south. The maximum length of the lake is 78 kilometers and the width is up to 56 kilometers.
In the hills above the town of Alaverdi lies the beautiful monastery complex Haghpat, which is included in UNESCO’s list of world cultural heritage. Haghpat was established in the 9th century by Saint Nishan and represents the medieval architecture of Armenia in a noble way. The architecture has found its inspiration from both Byzantine and local building traditions.
Saint Nishan Church is the oldest building and was built in 966-967, while the larger Saint Nishan Cathedral dates from 967-991. The building was typical of the period with a central dome resting on four columns. Among the other buildings is the place’s beautiful dining room, refectory, which, like the writing room, scriptorium, was built in the 14th century. The writing room was used for the preparation of various texts and manuscripts.
Like many places in Armenia, there are also a number of impressive cross stones around the monastery. The stones are mainly from the 1000s and 1300s, spanning the development from sparse to ornamented decoration.
Haghpat was built on relatively flat terrain in the heights overlooking the river Debed. The monastery was thereby protected from being immediately seen, which also gave room for contemplation among the monks. At the same time, it was also placed humbly as a symbol of monastic life in relation to God.
Vazgen Sargsyan Street 26/Վազգեն Սարգսյան փող. 26
dalma.am
Malatia/Մալաթիայի տոնավաճառ
Sevan Street/Սեւանի փողոց
Tigran Mets Boulevard/Տիգրան Մեծ
Northern Avenue/Հյուսիսային պողոտա, Abovyan Street/Աբովյան, Teryan Street/Տերյան փողոց, Tumanyan Street/Թումանյան, Sayat Nova Street/Սայաթ-Նովա
Children’s Park & Railway/Մանկական այգի & Մանկական երկաթուղի
Dzorapi Street/Ձորափի փող
Yerevan Circus/Երևանյան կրկեսն
Agatangeghos Street 1/Ագաթանգեղոս 1
circus.am
Yerevan Zoo/Կենդանաբանական այգի
Myasnikyan Avenue 20/Մյասնիկյան պողոտա 20
zooyerevan.com
Luna Park/ԼՈՒՆԱ-ՊԱՐԿ
Oghakadzev Park/Օղակաձև զբոսայգի
Luna Park/ԼՈՒՆԱ-ՊԱՐԿ
Victory Park/Հաղթանակ զբոսայգի
Play City
35 Acharyan Street/Աճառյան փողոց 35
playcity.am
Waterworld
Myasnikyan Avenue 40/Մյասնիկյան պողոտա 40
waterworld.am
King Arame is mentioned as the first king of Urartu, founded in the 8th century BC. The kingdom lay around Lake Van and also included the present-day Yerevan land as a border area to the northeast. The kingdom of Arama united the tribes of the area and formed a united front to the Assyrian kingdom to the south.
In the Yerevan area, the settlements had emerged as early as the 3000s BC, from which remains from several fortified sites have been found. The first known fort was founded as Erebuni in present-day Yerevan in 782 BC by order of King Argishti I, making the city one of the oldest in the world. Erebuni’s fort was built to defend the country against people from the Caucasus region.
In the following centuries, Erebuni evolved to be among the leading cities and centers in the province, and larger public facilities such as canals and reservoirs were established.
Armenia became a Christian country in the year 301, and the first churches were established. Yerevan and Armenia developed under several local leaders until the Arabs entered the area. Yerevan fell in the year 658, and it marked the beginning of many centuries when changing powers brought mainly foreign influence.
With the central location of Yerevan on the trade routes between Europe and Asia, Ottomans and Persians struggled for a long time, and countless times in the 1500-1700s the city changed hands between the two powers.
On several occasions Armenians were forced out of the city; for example, in 1604 where the Persians gained Muslim majority and dominance through the relocation of thousands of Armenians to Persia. The Armenian share of Yerevan’s citizens was as low as 20%.
During the Russo-Persian War of 1826-1828, Russia conquered Yerevan in 1827, and officially the city and Armenia became part of the Russian Empire the following year with the Turkmenchay Treaty. With the support from the tsarist regime in Russia, many Armenians were able to settle in Yerevan again. They came from Turkish and Persian areas, and with the relocation the proportion of Armenians in the city increased from just over a quarter to over half.
With the Russian administration, Yerevan became the capital of the Armenian region of the empire in the years 1828-1840, and thereafter it was the center of various administrative regimes until 1917.
With Russia a strong European influence came to Armenia, and in the 19th century several buildings were completed and institutions set up according to Russian model. Jerevan’s first overall city plan was also drawn these years; it happened in 1854.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the population had risen to around 30,000, and economic development continued from the 19th century. In 1902 a railway was established, and one could now drive to, among others, Tbilisi and Alexandropol, which today is called Gyumri.
In 1917, the Russian Empire fell, and the same year the Transcaucasian Federation was established between Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. This political construction did not last long, and on May 28, 1918, Armenian leader Aram Manukian declared the Armenian independence, and the country was now an independent republic. One of the country’s decisions was the establishment of the University of Yerevan.
On November 29, 1920, the 11th Red Arms of the Bolsheviks came to Yerevan and occupied the city. Three days later, Armenia became part of the Soviet Union as Armenia’s Soviet Socialist Republic.
The capital of the new republic became Yerevan, for which a city plan was quickly drawn up. It was headed by Russian-born Armenian Alexander Tamanian, and the plan was adopted in 1924. The plan was sized to a city of 150,000 inhabitants, but Yerevan grew under the Soviet Union to become a million city.
The Tamanian urban plan and Soviet architecture continue to dominate the Yerevan city center, and over the years a number of imposing buildings were erected and the city developed into a cultural and scientific center. The city, whose modern development started with the arrival of Russia in 1827, also built a metro system, when the one million inhabitants mark qualified for it in the Soviet system.
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Yerevan became the capital of the current Armenian Republic, established on September 21, 1991. Since then, significant investments have been made in new construction and renovation of the center of Yerevan, which today carries the old Armenian traditions into the culture and architecture.
Yerevan, Armenia[/caption]
Overview of Yerevan
Yerevan is an interesting capital city and it is also a trip to one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world. Ruins from the city’s early times such as the fortress Erebuni and the Christian era that began as early as the 300s are visible signs of the modern city’s early beginnings.
Throughout the 1900s, the city grew from 30,000 inhabitants to house more than one million people, and it is a fine example of Soviet development, drawing inspiration from traditional Armenian architecture. Between the buildings there are parks, lakes and in general an airy and lovely atmosphere.
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Contents: Tours in the city + tours in the surrounding area
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Mother Armenia is a personification of the Armenian state in the form of a 24-meter tall female statue that looks out over Yerevan from its place on a ridge north of the city center. The statue symbolizes peace through strength and faces Mount Ararat and Turkey with a raised sword as a symbol of Armenia’s struggle and independence. A special meaning of the statue is the will of the Armenian women to defend the motherland.
Mother Armenia was erected in 1967 to replace a statue of Soviet leader Josef Stalin that had been taken down in 1962. The Stalin monument was dedicated in 1950 to commemorate the Soviet victory in World War II. In the 36-metre-high pedestal, a museum for the events of World War II was set up from the start, and now the museum also reflects the freedom struggle in the 1980s-1990s to achieve Armenian independence in the area of Nagorno-Karabakh, which historically belongs to the Armenian province of Artsakh.
Sejrsparken is a park that got its name from the Soviet Union’s victory in World War II. The park is a nice recreational area where, in addition to being able to see various monuments and the green surroundings, you can also take a trip to the amusement park Luna Park/Луна парк.
In the park you can also find a number of monuments to heroes during various wars such as World War 2 and the war in Afghanistan 1979-1989, and here is also the monument to Mother Armenia/Майр Армения. The park is located high above the center of Yerevan, and from the area of Mother Armenia there is a distinguished view.
The Yerevan Opera was founded in 1932, and the opening took place on January 20, 1933. The building is the work of Alexander Tamanian, and his Armenian-neoclassical ideas come through quite clearly here as in his other buildings that helped make Yerevan a modern and magnificent capital.
Yerevan’s opera house is also home to the city’s philharmonic orchestra. It is in the so-called Aram Khatjaturian Concert Hall The building was designed in the 1930s and, among other things, was mainly renovated in the years 1978-1980.
The opera building is surrounded by a green park area, where you can, among other things, take a beautiful walk around the Swan Lake/Карапі лії. The square immediately to the south of the opera is called Freedom Square/Азатутьный плавный, and it is named after the Armenian War of Independence for the region of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).
North of the opera is the large France Square, which, in addition to green areas, has several statues of Armenian artists erected. Immediately in front of the opera house stands the composer Aram Khatjatarian, to the east the composer Komitas Vardapet and to the west the painter Martiros Saryan.
The Historical Museum of Armenia is an interesting museum that serves as the country’s national museum. It was established as an anthropological-ethnographic museum library in 1919, and since then it has been developed with wide collections.
The museum depicts the history of the Armenian area, people and culture from prehistoric times to the present day. Over the past millennia, many peoples and kingdoms have influenced Armenian culture; among others Egyptians, Hittites, Assyrians, Romans and Byzantines, before Russia and the Soviet Union became dominated in recent centuries.
Among the countless effects in the museum’s collections are bronze works from the 1000-2000s BC. and finds from the kingdom of Urartu, such as the testimony of King Argushti I about the founding of the city of Erebuni, which is today’s Yerevan. The presentation of Armenia’s early Christian era in the 3rd-4th centuries is also an interesting theme at the museum.
Yerevan Brandby Factory is one of Yerevan’s well-known places, whose main building is located on top of a hill at the end of the Victory Bridge/កា្រានាន្រ្រាន្រាន្រ្នានា្នានានានា្ន្រេ The architect Ovanes Markarian used the site’s topography to create a vantage point in the city with the large staircase leading up to the factory’s main building with nine large arches in the facade.
Yerevan Brandy Factory is a spirits producer whose largest and best-known product is the brandy Ararat. You can take a tour of the factory and thereby get to know the production and the various brandy products from the factory.
The Blue Mosque is a mosque believed to have been built in the middle of the 18th century. It probably happened under the local governor Husayn Ali Khan. The mosque was the main mosque for Yerevan’s Muslim community, and when Russia captured Yerevan in 1827, it was also the largest of the city’s then eight functioning mosques. At that time there was, among other things, a large prayer hall, a library and a school.
In 1931 the mosque was closed, and in 1936 a city museum was set up in the beautiful building. At the end of the 1990s, the mosque was thoroughly renovated with support from Iran, and now the Blue Mosque functions as an active mosque again. The facility’s most characteristic elements are the dome on the central prayer hall and the 24-metre high minaret.
The English Garden is one of central Yerevan’s largest parks. It opened in 1910 as the city’s first public park and quickly enjoyed great popularity for recreation. It was laid out according to the European model and got its name from there. Today, there are many sculptures set up in the park’s green surroundings, which also include fountains and walking paths.
The main railway station in Yerevan is an impressive station building from the Soviet era. The railway came to Yerevan in 1902, when a line was established north to Tbilisi and Alexandropol, today called Gyumri. In 1908, the city was connected to the south to Persia, making Yerevan a hub for traffic, and more railways were built over the years.
The original railway station was a smaller, single-storey building in the Russian architectural style. The current main railway station was completed in 1956 as one of the finest examples in the city of the sky-high Soviet architecture of the 1950s, as it is also known from other places in the union. In and by the station you can visit a small railway museum.
In the square in front of Yerevan’s main railway station, you can see an equestrian statue of David of Sasun/Сасунци Давит, locally called Sasuntsi Davit. The statue was erected in 1959 as a tribute to the epic hero David of Sasun, who in history drove invading Arabs out of Armenia.
According to the legend, David did not want to shed the blood of the enemy and therefore challenged its leader Msyrmelik, who was the head of the Arab caliphate Msyr. On the horse Dzhalali, David overcame the Arabs with a fierce force which he is said to use again if the land is threatened.
Erebuni Museum is the museum for the excavation of Erebuni Fort and thus the earliest roots of present-day Yerevan. The museum is located immediately in front of the excavation area, and since 1968 it has been possible to see many effects from the old Erebuni at the museum.
Erebuni was founded by the Urartian king Argishti I in 782 BC. after the kingdom of Urartu’s successful conquest of this area, which was the northern part of the great Armenian land of the time. At the Erebuni Museum, the history of Urarturiget is depicted, and there are also exhibitions on, for example, weapons, craftsmanship, religion and power relations in the kingdom.
Erebuni Fort is quite a large ruin of a fort with associated buildings from the historical Armenian kingdom of Urartu. The fort was one of several and at the same time among the most important along the kingdom’s northern border. The location on top of a hill overlooking the river valley was strategically important for the defense of the area, and in time it was also Erebuni that developed into today’s Yerevan.
Larger excavations of the ruin area were started in 1952, and since then, among other things, King Argishti I’s palace, temples and a number of rooms have been excavated. Various effects and murals have been found during the work. So much has been preserved that you can form an impression of the place and of the good position it was built on in its time.
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