Yerevan
A. Tomanyan’s plan of Yerevan
Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, dates back to the 8th century BC. The name, apparently originates from Noah, who looking from high up on mount Ararat, said “I can see”.
The architect Alexander Tomanyan, who in the 19th century produced the plan of the city centre is still highly honoured. There is a monument of him and his plan in the centre of the city, near the Opera and the Cascade. The Russians refused to accept his plan several times, but the Armenians persisted and at the end they allowed it to go through.
When Yerevan civil authorities asked for permission
The Opera
to have an underground metro system and an airport built, the Russians (this time – the communists) refused again. Under communist rules, only cites with over 1 million inhabitants had the right to have such facilities. Yerevan at the time had only 0.5 million inhabitants. They did not give up – invited the relevant officials, produced a banquet, and got them royally drunk until they signed on the dotted line of the permission.
The first thing we went to see in Yerevan was the Genocide monument. In expectation of the proclamation of the Armenian republic, three years before that, the Turks caused the death of 1.5 million Armenians from their territory in order to reduce their number and to prevent the self-determination of the nation. This event scars deeply all Armenians and
The Genocide Museum
everyone, who visits the site – it is a very sad place. Every politician, who was taken on a visit to the complex, was asked to plant a tree on the grounds, with their name on a small plaque in front of it – it makes interesting reading.
One of the reasons I personally wanted to visit Yerevan was the Museum of Rare Books, called Matenadaran. It is housed in a magnificent neo-classical building, which has the statues of many Armenian scientists, cosmologists and geographers in front of it. One of them, suggested in the 7th century, that the earth was like the egg – the yoke was the actual earth and the egg-white was the atmosphere! He also assumed that the egg/world had a shell. He suggested that the moon reflected the sunlight!?
The “singing and dancing” fountain in a rainy night
It is probably worth remembering, that the Armenian language is an Indo-European language and like the English and the Basque languages, does not differentiate between the genders – there is no he/she/it. The Armenians alphabet was created in 405AD, about a hundred years after they accepted the Christian religion. From that time on, they were busy translating the most important manuscripts from the world literature, science and culture.
The inside entrance of the museum
Matenadaran – the best depository of ancient books in the works, plays and important role in
world culture today, as it contains a large number of manuscripts, the originals of which have been lost –translations of many Arab and Persian books, as well as translations from Latin, Ancient Greek, Ethiopian, Jewish, and old Slavonic documents. Most of those books were lavishly illustrated – the beauty of those illustrations took my breath away. Some had exquisite covers from ivory, others were decorated with precious stones.
Many of them have been saved during the Genocide times with great self-sacrifice by the Armenians. The valuable books, which were in the “Turkish part” of the country, were gathered together and divided into two parts – one, which was taken by the fleeing Armenians. The second was buried in the yard of a monastery. This part, was only discovered in 1921 and both now reside in the Matenadaran Museum.
The Parliament Building
Central Yerevan cannot fail to impress – all covered in pink-beige volcanic tuft tiles, with large squares and majestic buildings, built by the Russians in the 18th century. The Russians have generally done much for the civilization of the town, building many Universities, administrative buildings, roads, railways, etc. There, on “Republic Square”, one can find the first “singing and dancing” fountain – built in the 60-ies, many Ministries and the Parliament building, well as the Historical Museum and the Art Gallery, which are housed one building. A statue of Lenin, which was there during the communist times, has now been removed.
The Art Gallery is divided in three parts: European Art, Russian Art and Armenian Art. There, I discovered that Ivazovsky and Ashley Gorky were Armenians. It is a pleasant place to look at art.
The Republic Square
In the Historical Museum, one can see much information about the Kingdom of Ani and its magnificent capital Ani and many other details about the past history of the country. The famous shoe, 4 million years old, fond in a cave was there, as well as many beautiful shields, silver cups, animals, etc.
Art Gallery and the Historical Museum are in this building
We drove past the American embassy in Yerevan, which is the second largest in the world. It is situated close to the airport. Despite the poverty in the country, which was obvious all over the little towns and villages we passed through, the “European” atmosphere was very apparent in the capital. One can see many well-dressed and beautiful women walking about on the streets of Yerevan!
We also passed by the Yerevan Brandy factory – Winston Churchill asked for and received one bottle of the famous Ararat Brandy on regular basis. In the vicinity of the city, there are also three man-made lakes, to add moisture to the air.
What impressed me most was that not one tile was missing from a single building in Yerevan – the city is kept immaculate.
Visiting the Wine Factory restaurant
The Cascade
One of the exiting part s of Yerevan for us was the Cascade. This is a complex of covered staircases on one side of the hill and an open staircase on the other side. It was built by the communists in order to bring the poorer citizens of the city, living in the suburbs, to the centre. In between the two staircases, there were several large terraces, in front of them – a small park. Inside, there were exhibition halls.
Some time ago, an Armenian expat – the millionaire Gerald Kafedjyan – an American citizen,purchased the dilapidated complex and renovated it. Now on one side, there are covered escalators running up and down, as well as staircases.
A photograph, showing the state of the Cascade, when it was purchased
The small garden in front of the Cascade
On the side of those, there are platforms. Kafedjyan brought his extensive collection of modern art and exhibited it in the complex. There are many installations and statues on the terraces and the inside platforms, in the various exhibition halls inside and in front of it, in the park. Some famous and amazing pieces can be seen there!
Despite the fact that they are already a member of The Russian Coalition, in contrast to Georgia, there did not seem to be many Russian visitors in Yerevan. Many other tourists were seen from everywhere.
Exhibits on the side of the escalators
Inside the Cascade
Generally, in Armenia we found more things to buy – folk music with duduk solos, jewellery, souvenirs and of course the famous cognac – sorry –brandy Ararat. We particularly enjoyed walking round the flee-market in the centre, where many wonderful books, gifts, exquisite silver jewellery and other objects could be found.
On one of the terraces
A lion, made from car tires from a Japanese sculpture
I realized that 1.5 mil of the 2.5 mil population of Armenia live in Yerevan. The countryside is incredibly poor. It is surrounded by Azerbaijan, Iran, Georgia and Turkey, but only the Georgian and Iranian boundaries are actually open. So imports and exports are incredibly hampered. However, the diaspora invests a massive amount of foreign currency into the economy of the country.
North Avenue
We walked up and down a newly completed street in Yerevan, full of buildings built with modern architectural design, called North Avenue. Many of them are being purchased by members of the diaspora. Youngsters from Armenian descent often come to spend some time in the “mother country” and there are quite a few other tourists. Despite the massive financial support from the diaspora, Armenia needs tourism so we invite you to visit – you would love it. The food is delicious, the people are lovely, the wine is also good and the cognac – sorry brandy, is to die for! There is a lot to see too! Enjoy!
North Avenue