Yerevan City Of America For Holiday

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Wonder World Travels
Presents
Yerevan
The Beautiful City of Armenia
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City History
Yerevan is a surprising city. While it's history
dates back to the 8th century B.C., the total
population of Yerevan was still under 70,000 at
the start of the Soviet era. With this nearly
blank canvas to work with, Soviet architect
Alexander Tamanyan went to work on the new
capital of the Armenian Soviet Socialist
Republic, hoping to create a Neoclassical jewel
modelled after the great capitals of Western
Europe.
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What to see in Yerevan
Sergei Parajanov Museum
Yerevan Zoo
Victory Park
Much more
Blue Mosque
Unlimited fun
History Museum of Armenia
National Gallery of Armenia
Republic Square
Cafesjian Museum
Saint Gregory
Matenadaran
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Lets take a quick view of these popular places
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Places of interest-
Republic Square
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Republic Square
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The heart of Yerevan, is the Republic Square, the
only one in its type, endowed by singing
fountains and a magnificent mosaic rock carpet,
which covers 3000 year old ruins underneath it!
The Republic Square and all buildings circling it
were designed by Alexander Tamanyan the beloved
architect for Armenians. The large oval of the
Square will give you a great chance to examine
Tamanyan's distinctive designs in detail.
All buildings around the square, Armenia Marriot
Hotel, the building of Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, The History Museum and National Art
Gallery, the Government Building and the building
of post office are all unique, built by tuff of
different colors and loved by Armenians all over
the world. The famous seven fountains, the
meeting spot for thousands and thousands of
dates, are also in Republic Square, right next to
History Museum and National Art Gallery. On
weekends, many cheerful wedding parties circle
the Square thrice as if to bond their hearts with
three more rings.
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Places of interest-
Matenadaran
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Matenadaran
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The Matenadaran or Mashtots Institute of Ancient
Manuscripts in Yerevan, Armenia, is one of the
richest depositories of manuscripts and books in
the world. The collection dates back to 405, when
Saint Mesrop Mashtots created the Armenian
alphabet and sent his disciples to Edessa,
Constantinople, Athens, Antioch, Alexandria, and
other centers of learning to study the Greek
language and bring back the masterpieces of Greek
literature.
After 1441, when the Residence of Armenian
Supreme Patriarch-Catholicos was moved to
Echmiadzin, hundreds of manuscripts were copied
there and in nearby monasteries, especially
during the seventeenth century. During the
eighteenth century, tens of thousands of Armenian
manuscripts perished or were carried away during
repeated invasions, wars and plundering raids. In
the late nineteenth century, the collection
expanded as private scholars procured and
preserved manuscripts that had been scattered all
over Europe. In 1920, the collection, held at the
headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church at
Echmiatsin was confiscated by the Bolsheviks,
combined with other collections and, in 1939,
moved to Yerevan. On March 3, 1959, the
Matenadaran Institute was formed to maintain and
house the manuscripts, and in 1962, it was named
after Saint Mesrop Mashtots.
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Places of interest-
Sergei Parajanov Museum
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Sergei Parajanov Museum
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The Sergei Parajanov Museum is a tribute to
Soviet Armenian director and artist Sergei
Parajanov and is one of the most popular museums
in Yerevan. It represents Parajanov's diverse
artistic and literary heritage. The museum was
founded in 1988 when Parajanov moved to Yerevan.
Parajanov himself chose the place (Dzoragyugh
ethnographic center in Yerevan) and construction
project of museum.
Due to 1988 Spitak earthquake and socio-economic
problems, the museum was opened only in June
1991, one year after Parajanov's death. The
founding director of museum is Zaven Sargsyan.
The museum is one of the cultural centres of
Yerevan, known for his exhibitions, publications
and honorary receptions (including the annual
meetings of Yerevan International Film Festival
guests). Paulo Coelho, Wim Wenders, Mikhail
Vartanov, Tonino Guerra, Enrica Antonioni, Atom
Egoyan, Nikita Mikhalkov, Vladimir Putin,
Aleksandr Lukashenko, Yevgeni Yevtushenko, Arnold
Rüütel, Valdas Adamkus, Tarja Halonen, Donald
Knuth and many other famous people have visited
the museum.
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Places of interest-
History Museum of Armenia
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History Museum of Armenia
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The Yerevan History Museum is the history museum
of Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia. The
museum was founded in 1931 as the Communal
Museum. Currently, the museum is located in a
building attached to the Yerevan City Hall. At
the beginning, the museum was located in two
rooms, on the second floor, of the Yerevan Fire
Department building. In 1936, it was moved to the
Blue Mosque (Gyoy-Djami) where had functioned for
sixty years.
From 1994 to 1997, the museum was located in the
building of former Hripsime Female Gymnasium.
From 1997 to 2005, the museum functioned in one
of the adjacent buildings of the school N1 named
after Shahoumian. In 2005, the museum was
established in a new building. It forms an
architectural complex together with Yerevan
Municipality. There are more than 87,000 objects
exposed in the Yerevan History Museum. They
represent the local material and spiritual
culture from ancient times to the present day.
The collections of archaeology, ethnography,
numismatics, fine arts, written records,
photography and others, kept in the storage of
the museum, tell a vivid story about the past and
the present of the capital city and its people.
There are three scientific expositions of the
museum, that have collected, studied and showed
objects highlighting the history of Yerevan.
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Places of interest-
Blue Mosque
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Blue Mosque
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The Blue Mosque is a mosque in Yerevan, Armenia.
During the Soviet era, because of atheist policy,
the Mosque stopped its services and became the
Museum of Yerevan. After the independence of
Armenia, with the support from Iranian
government, the premises again started acting as
a Mosque. The Yerevan region had been under the
control of various Muslim rulers since the
incursions of Timur in the 14th century.
From the second third of the 18th century, it had
been a province of Iran (ruled successively by
Nadir Shah, Karim Khan Zand and the Iranian Qajar
Dynasty), before it fell to the Russian empire in
1827. The building was the main congregational
mosque for the city. When Yerevan was captured by
Russia in 1827 it was, according to the cataster
drawn up by the Russians, the largest of its
eight functioning mosques. The building
consisted of the main prayer hall, a library, and
a madrasa with 28 cells, all organised around a
courtyard, with the overall complex occupying
7,000 square metres of land. There is a single
minaret at the main portal, in keeping with
contemporaneous mosques, and there is no evidence
that there were more minarets.
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Places of interest-
Victory Park
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Victory Park
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Haghtanak Zbosaygi (Victory Park) is a big park
located at the top of Cascade in Yerevan. The
park is named Victory Park in commemoration of
Soviet Armenia's participation in the second
World War. The park is a large forested area with
an artificial lake, an amusement park, cafes, the
Mayr Hayastan statue and museum, and sweeping
views of central Yerevan.
The current statue replaces a monumental statue
of Joseph Stalin that was created as a victory
memorial for the Great Patriotic War. During
Stalins reign of the Soviet Union, Grigor
Harutyunyan, the first secretary of the Armenian
Communist Partys Central Committee and members of
the government oversaw the construction of the
monument which was completed and unveiled to the
people on November 29, 1950. Inside the monument
there is the military museum of the Ministry of
Defense of Armenia . Near the monument stands the
tomb of "unknown soldier as the gratitude to
those who died in the struggle against fascism.
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Places of interest-
Saint Gregory- the illuminator cathedral Yerevan
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Saint Gregory- the illuminator cathedral Yerevan
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The Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral, also
known as the Cathedral of Yerevan is currently
the largest cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic
Church in the world, effectively making it the
current largest Armenian cathedral. It is located
in the Kentron District (Central District) of
Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, and considered
to be one of the largest religious buildings in
the South Caucasus along with the Holy Trinity
Cathedral of Tbilisi (known as the Sameba
Cathedral).
Adjacent to the General Andranik metro station,
it's visible from the numerous corners of
Yerevan. The huge cathedral is a complex
consisting of three churches the Cathedral (Main
Church) with 1700 seats and the Chapels of St.
Tiridates the King and of Saint Ashkhen the Queen
(both with 150 seats). These two royal figures
were the crucial helpers of St. Gregory in
converting Armenia to Christianity. The belfry
tower (which consists of more than 30 arches) and
the court are located at the entrance of the
Cathedral. The halls for both the receptions and
church-related activities are provided on the
lower floor of the Main Church. The total area
of the complex is around 3,822 square meters,
while the height of the cathedral from the ground
to the top of the cross is 54 meters.
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Places of interest-
Cafesjian Museum of Art
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Cafesjian Museum of Art
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The Cafesjian Center for the Arts, also known as
the Cafesjian Museum Foundation is an art museum
in Yerevan, Armenia. It is situated in central
Yerevan in the area in and around the Cascade. At
the core of the museum's permanent collection is
the Gerard L. Cafesjian Collection of Art. The
inauguration took place on 17 November 2009.
It is said that "the museum project represents
one of the most ambitious works of contemporary
architecture undertaken in any of the former
republics of the Soviet Union."citation needed
The New York Times described it as "a mad work of
architectural megalomania and architectural
recovery, one of the strangest and most
spectacular museum buildings to open in
ages." The project was designed by the New York
based architecture firm David Hotson Architects.
The rest of the design team includes architect of
record David Hotson Associates Architecs,
Yerevan structural engineer Dewhurst Macfarlane
and Partners, New York, NY structural engineer
of record ArmProject, Yerevan and services and
environmental engineer Atelier Ten, New York and
London, UK.
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Places of interest-
National Gallery of Armenia
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National Gallery of Armenia
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The National Gallery of Armenia is the largest
art museum in the Republic of Armenia. Located on
Yerevan's Republic Square, the museum has one of
the most prominent locations in the Armenian
capital. The NPGA houses significant collections
of Russian and Western European art, and the
world's largest collection of Armenian art. NGA's
Chief Director Paravon Mirzoyan told Armenia Now
news site that the museum has 65,000 visitors in
2005
The National Gallery of Armenia or NGA was
founded in 1921 under the decree of the Armenian
Soviet Socialist Republic (Armenian SSR) and
represents the artistic section of the State
museum. Upon its establishment the NGA's art
section encountered serious difficulties, largely
due to the fact that Yerevan lacked state owned
and private art collections to form the core of
the collection. The first works to enter the
collection where the dozens of works purchased
from an Armenian painters' exhibition in August
1921. A decisive factor in the founding of the
NGA's art collection was the transfer of the
renowned collection of The Armenian Cultural
Center (the former Lazarian Seminary, Moscow) and
also the donations made by Armenian artists to
the NGA.
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Places of interest-
Yerevan Zoo
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Yerevan Zoo
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At present the zoo is home to about 2749
individuals representing 204 species. Species
representing the South Caucasus and Armenia
include brown bears, Bezoar goats, vipers,
Armenian mouflon, and black vultures. Other
species at the zoo from around the world include
lions, tigers, hyenas, and an Asian elephant
named Grantik. The zoo will be partnering with
the Artis Zoo (among others) to upgrade and
renovate the zoo to modern standards.
Since Armenia is a biodiversity hot spot, the
Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and
Cultural Assets (FPWC) has leased and taken over
management of about 839 hectares (2,070 acres)
near the Khosrov reserve, which until recently
had been unprotected and at risk of poaching,
illegal logging, and overgrazing. The Yerevan
Zoo is cooperating with the FPWC to use this land
for wildlife rehabilitation and the reintroducing
critically endangered species of the area into
the wild.
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Places of interest-
Katoghike Church
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Katoghike Church
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The surviving church dates back to the 13th
century. After the 1679 Yerevan earthquake, a
large basilica named after the Holy Mother of God
was built between 1693 and 1695, in the ancient
Shahar district of Yerevan. It was founded on the
western side of the Katoghike chapel. It was
built of typical Armenian tufa stones and cement
and was of the three-nave basilica type with no
dome. With its prayer hall measuring 14.0 x 19.3
meters, and an outside perimeter of 16.4 x 28.4
meters, it was considered one of the most
capacious churches of old Yerevan.
In 1936, the basilica church of the Holy Mother
of God was demolished under the Soviet rule to
make way for residential buildings at the
Sayat-Nova Avenue. During the demolition, the
13th-century chapel of Katoghike was discovered
encased within the structure of the large
basilica. After protests from archaeologists, the
chapel was preserved. Many old khachkars
(cross-stones) were found in the walls of the
demolished church dating back to the 15th and
17th centuries.
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the most interesting
Belly Dance
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Belly Dance
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To know more
91 98119 60242, 98119 57978
kunal_at_wonderworldtravels.com
www.WonderWorldTravels.com
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