Sights in Armenia
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Cascade
A vast flight of stone steps and flower beds, the Cascade leads up to a monument commemorating the 50th anniversary of Soviet Armenia. It completes one end of Tumanyan's north-south axis through the city, in line with Tigran Mets Poghota and the Hyusisayin Poghota (Northern Avenue) project. There are five recessed fountains along the Cascade, some with sculpted panels and postmodern khatchkars.
The top section of the Cascade was left unfinished when independence arrived, until 2001 when diasporan philanthropist and art collector Gerald L Cafesjian took over the project. Since then the vast concrete structure has been cleaned, the escalators through its core repaired and…
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B
Mother Armenia
Symbolism abounds in the huge statue of Mother Armenia. She looms over the city in line with Mesrop Mashtots Poghota, on a classic Soviet plaza complete with tanks and jets set on pedestals at the eastern end of Haghtanak (Victory) Park. The 23m-high Mother Armenia glares out across the city towards the Turkish border with a massive sword held defensively in front of her. She replaced a Stalin statue in 1967.
Two soldiers died when his statue was wrenched off unannounced one night, leading to grim muttering about Stalin still killing from beyond the grave.
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C
Museum of the Armenian Genocide
Commemorating the agony of the 1915–22 genocide of Armenians during the death throes of the Ottoman Empire, the Museum of the Armenian Genocide and memorial create a moving experience. The museum lies underground in a grey stone hall. Large photographs (many, but not all, with English explanations) tell the story of the genocide simply and baldly. There’s no effort to demonise the Ottoman authorities; the facts are allowed to speak for themselves.
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D
Sergei Paradjanov Museum
This engaging, eccentric house museum of an avant-garde film director and artist SergeiParadjanov, showcases his colourful, amusing collages and framed found-object sculptures, as well as sketches and designs for his films. There’s real wit and flair to his work, and it’s well worth visiting even if avant-garde 20th-century film isn’t normally your thing. There are postcards and videos of his major films for sale.
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E
National Folk Art Museum of Armenia
Has a large display of Armenia’s finest crafts, which reveal the exotic influence of the East in Armenian culture. There’s also a nice lace exhibit and some interesting woodcarving.
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Satan's Bridge
At the bottom of the Vorotan Canyon are mineral springs and Satan's Bridge. Legend tells that villagers fleeing to Tatev were blocked by the raging river. Before the invaders attacked, a bridge was magically created by a huge falling rock and the people were saved. The site includes two natural spring pools so bring a swimsuit. Just past the second pool is a steep slope that leads down to the river.
A rope and ladder are on hand to help you down, but it's very dicey and potentially dangerous as you are literally putting your life in the hands of the rope. A caretaker may be on hand to help you down - if he is not then just forget it. If you do make it safely down the…
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Spitakavor
The Museum of Gladzor University marks the end of the village and just past it is a T-junction. The road to the left leads to Spitakavor monastery about 9km along a winding dirt track for vehicles or 5km along a more direct walking path. The road is rough so hiking is a good idea; just bring plenty of bottled water. To find the trail, walk through the village and carry on straight up the western bank of the gorge past a small dam on the river (ignore the vehicle road which switches back).
The 20th-century Armenian fighter Garegin Nzhdeh was buried at Spitakavor in 1983. He fought in the Balkan Wars and in WWI, went into exile and lobbied the Nazis to restore Armenian…
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F
National Art Gallery
Holding the third biggest collection of European masters in the former USSR, many of the works in the National Art Gallery were appropriated in Europe during WWII. This national treasure includes works by Donatello, Tintoretto, Fragonard, Courbet, Theodore Rousseau, Rodin, Rubens and Jan Van Dyck. There are also many works by Russian painters, and Armenian painters, sculptors and graphic artists including Martiros Sarian, Yervand Kochar and Sedrak Arakelyan. Note that the floors are a little wonky – floor seven is marked floor eight in the elevator, and so forth. If you can talk your way into visiting the roof there are opportunities here for sweeping city views.
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G
Surp Grigor Lusavorich Cathedral
Modern Yerevan's first real cathedral was built to celebrate 1700 years of Christianity in Armenia and was consecrated in 2001. This hulking building stands on a small hill where Khandjian Poghots meets Tigran Mets Poghota. It's a bit brutalist in execution, possibly because it hasn't been around for 1000 years and collected age, atmosphere and khatchkars. Stairs leading up from Tigran Mets Poghota point straight at the carbuncle of the Kino Rossiya building across the street.
There's a statue of Zoravar Andranik at the bottom of the stairs. General Andranik Ozanian led the army that defeated the Turks at Sardarapat in May 1918.
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H
Hanrapetutyan Hraparak
The former Lenin square, Hanrapetutyan Hraparak is surrounded by the city's finest ensemble of buildings, particularly the Armenia Marriott Hotel and the National Art Gallery and State Museum of Armenian History, where Stalinist scale meets Armenian architecture in a huge yellow-and-cream building facing some massive fountains. The statue of Lenin now lies on its back in the museum's courtyard while the head is apparently stored in the basement.
The centre of the square (more of an oval) is now a flat stretch of polished marble. New lights and repaired fountains make Hanrapetutyan Hraparak a focal point on warm afternoons and nights.
reviewed
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Sisavan Church
Originally built in the 6th century, Sisavan church was restored as recently as the 20th century. It combines an elegant square-cross floor with some striking sculptures of royal and ecclesiastical patrons inside and out. Inside there's a display of microsculptures by local artist Eduard Ter-Ghazaryan. Seen through a microscope, one features 17 images of the cross on a human hair coated with metal.
The road up from town passes a large Soviet war memorial with a Karabakh War monument - local men were some of the first to volunteer to join their kin over in the next mountain range when the war began, and paid a heavy price for it.
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Surp Grigor
The 11th-century Surp Grigor church nestles next to Surp Poghos-Petros, and there's a masterfully miniaturised chapel above the gatehouse. The fortifications, added in the 17th century, have been restored and are full of dining halls, towers and libraries. At the monastery's peak some 600 monks lived and worked at Tatev, and national icon St Grigor Tatevatsi (St Gregory of Tatev, 1346-1409) is buried here.
In the monastery'scourtyard, look for the 8m octagonal pillar topped by a khatchkar. The 9th century monument is said to have predicted seismic activity (or the roar of hooves by approaching armies) by shifting.
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State Museum of Armenian History
This museum spans from Stone Age cave dwellers in the Hrazdan Gorge to the astronomy and metallurgy of 3000 BC Metsamor, the Urartu Empire and the gathering of the Hayk tribes into a nation in the 6th century BC. After that, centuries fly past through Hellenic Armenia, the arrival of Christianity and long wars against Persia, the Arab conquest and subsequent flowering at Ani, and then the long centuries under Muslim Turkish and Persian rule. There are medieval khatchkars, costumes, jewellery, coins, and models of buried settlements and lost churches.
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Surp Stepanos
The Museum of Gladzor University marks the end of the village and just past it is a T-junction. The road to the right winds for 6km to Tanahat Monastery. The impressive main Surp Stepanos church was built by the Orbelians. There are significant stone reliefs of animals on the exterior of the church, including the crest of the Orebelians (a bull and a lion) on the tambour. All around the church are ruins that once made up the actual site of Gladzor University.
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Military Museum
The interior is based on Surp Hripsime at Echmiadzin, a brave acknowledgment of religion by the architect during Stalin’s lifetime. Originally fitted out with displays from WWII (300,000 Armenians died, half of those sent to fight), today most of the space is devoted to the Karabakh War – a Dashnak’s paradise which includes a tableau of female soldiers in the Karabakh conflict. All explanations are in Armenian but the dioramas are easily grasped.
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Martiros Sarian Museum
Start your visit to the museum upstairs with Martiros Sarian's sombre early works, then watch the colours erupt as he falls in love with Persia and Egypt. His art seems to mature by fusing those colours into a vision of an Oriental Armenia, landscapes of stark mountains, green villages and plunging gorges. Sarian’s large studio remains as it was when the artist died in the 1950s.
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Museum of Ancient History
The Museum of Ancient History displays Bronze Age knives, traditional costumes, carpets and other locally found artefacts. The most unique item is a five-sided stone with carved faces that represent the sun, moon, water, earth and sky, believed to date back 4000 years. The museum is dimly lit and everything is labelled in Armenian, but it’s still worth a look.
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Old Goris
Locals say the cave shelters and stables of Old Goris carved into the hillside on the east side of town were built and inhabited in the 5th century. Several trails lead up over a saddle where there are more volcanic pinnacle clusters to explore. Many of the rooms are linked together and arched 'shelves' grace some walls. The caves are sometimes used to house cattle - watch your step.
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Norarar Pordzarakan Arvesti Kentovon
The Norarar Pordzarakan Arvesti Kentovon (Armenian Centre for Contemporary Experimental Art) is a large, well-appointed gallery and art complex. Yervand Kochar’s 1959 figure Melancholy pines at the entrance. Most of the artists in residence are in their 20s, and avant-garde concerts and performances are held in a huge auditorium.
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Matenadaran
Armenia’s ancient manuscripts library, the Matenadaran, stands like a cathedral at the top of Yerevan’s grandest avenue. It preserves more than 17,000 Armenian manuscripts and 100,000 medieval and modern documents. The first Matenadaran for Armenian texts was built by St Mesrop Mashtots at Vagarshapat (Echmiadzin) in the 5th century.
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Surp Poghos-Petros
A steep climb up the south side of the Vorotan Canyon turns left before Tatev village. The great fortified monastery's main church of Surp Poghos-Petros was built by the bishops of Syunik in the 9th century to house important relics. There are faint signs of frescoes, intricate carvings and portraits of the main donors on the northern side.
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Gallery of Waters
Open to the public is the Gallery of Waters, with a façade of archways and a pleasant view. Water runs into stone urns from pipes set in the wall and the temperature of the water is printed next to its pipe. The various waters are said to have different properties, good for curing stomach and liver problems, heart disease and cancer.
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Blue Mosque
An appropriate place to wear trousers and a long-sleeved shirt – no bare legs or shoulders. The Soviets turned the mosque into the Yerevan City Museum until it was restored and somewhat ‘modernised’ by an Iranian religious-government foundation in the 1990s. It lives on as a sign of Armenia’s necessarily good relations with Iran.
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St. Ripsime Church
About 2km northwest of the avtokayan is the village of Verisheen, which houses the ancient St. Ripsime Church. The barrel vaulted structure saw restoration in 2007 and is believed to have been built on top of an old pagan temple. Continuing on the main road northwest you'll spot plenty of cave dwellings by the road.
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Museum of Gladzor University
The Museum of Gladzor University in the village of Vernashen, 4km uphill from Yeghegnadzor. The museum has displays on monasteries across the country, plus old manuscripts and descriptions of Armenia’s various schools and universities. The museum is housed inside a 17th-century church called St Hagop.
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