Museum sights in Yerevan
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
A
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 …
reviewed
-
B
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.
reviewed
-
C
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.
reviewed
-
D
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.
reviewed
-
E
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.
reviewed
-
F
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.
reviewed
-
G
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.
reviewed
-
H
Museum of the Middle East
The Museum of the Middle East houses a small but diverse collection of artefacts from Zoroastrian Persia and early regional civilisations from Luristan and Elam. It affords a peek at Lenin’s headless statue in a courtyard.
reviewed
-
I
Erebuni Museum
The Erebuni Museum, at the bottom of the hill, has cuneiform tablets and jewellery excavated from the site in a striking 1960s Soviet building with huge apricot-coloured tufa (volcanic stone) friezes.
reviewed
-
J
State Museum of Wood-Carving
The State Museum of Wood-Carving is actually an interesting collection of some meticulous pieces, both modern and medieval.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
K
Yervand Kochar Museum
Features the sculpture and Cubist-style three-dimensional paintings of the brilliant draughtsman and artist.
reviewed
