Posted 10 July 2007 - 10:58 AM
Yerevan ԵՐԵՎԱՆ (DD 40.18340 x 44.50644, elev. 1009m, pop. approx. 1,000,000).
Long a backwater in Armenian history Yerevan now weighs in as the economic powerhouse for the country, and its cultural, academic and scientific center, a bustling city of one million busy ‘Yerevantsis’ who always find time for a cup of coffee and to share an anecdote, advice and an opinion about the current events.
The city is more than a capital, it has become the central point of the country, a magnet for the eight million Armenians living outside the country. This has made the city much more cosmopolitan than another city its size; Armenians from Buenos Aires, Marseilles, New Delhi and Moscow can be found next to others from Los Angeles, Australia and Beirut, each with their own unique take on life shaped by their experiences abroad, but all bound by one unifying idea; Armenia.
Long scattered across the globe, Armenians have always brought the ideas and tastes of their new homelands to the old. The result is a sometimes bizarre, often startling, always eclectic mixture of tastes, ideas and art, unified by a shared history of loss and tragedy.
Yerevan embodies this mixture in the houses it builds, the art it shows and the food it serves, with wonderful results. Spanish, Japanese and Armenian food sit side by side with French, Lebanese and pub grub in high-concept restaurants, trendy bars and hole-in-the-wall bistros. Yerevan’s cafes are caffeine palaces, built around fountains and flower beds and manicured lawns. Many have themes (Chalet, Old Rome, Retro 50s, the Stone Age) that defy descriptions. Along side your cup of coffee (still less than $1) is the right to sit and watch the world go by, something few cities offer.
Armenians have so long had to prove their worth in their Diaspora countries they have developed an inordinate amount of talent, much of it on show in the mother city. Artists argue the merits of post modernism and expressionism as they display their work each weekend at Art Vernissage, an outdoor park, while ‘lesser’ handcraft artisans ply their woodwork, jewelry, weaving ceramic ware and embroidery on the other side of town at Old Vernissage, the largest Flea market in the Caucasus. More sophisticated work is displayed at one of a dozen galleries in the city. Actors perform in biting satires and Shakespearian tragedies considered among the best translations of the bard’s plays, while singers and dancers regularly recruited by European theatres perform operas and ballets n the large Opera House. Medieval music and folk dance is performed year round, and troubadours perform year round in theatres, concert halls and clubs. One of Europe’s best chamber orchestras gives concerts each weekend in Ring Park. Jazz, ethnic and rock music plays nightly, while the most respected Tango ensemble outside Argentina calls Yerevan home. No matter the skill, Armenians seem to always have someone who is a true master, close by.
Interlaced with this internationalism is a totally provincial city that never quite got over its past as a garrison town in the Near East. Looking westward for a hundred years, Armenians have 6,000 years of being a part of Asia, and the mixture of the two is not always comfortable, while beguiling. Men hold hands to show affection, women entice with their clothes and makeup in almost shocking ways, while babulis (grandmas) dressed in grey and black hold down the family fort enforcing a strict code of ethics and morality.
It is not always clear where the lines are, but over riding everything is the Armenian code of hospitality, which overwhelms many first timers. Yerevan is a city, with a city’s self-absorbed view, but it is also a collection of neighborhoods, ancient tribes and families, serious about their honor, also serious about how they treat guests. If you are invited to someone’s home for coffee, expect a table full of sweets and cakes along with that cup, and if asked for dinner, you will think the table might break under the weight of so much food. This is par for the course.
Yerevan’s cultural treasures are many if not always well displayed. Museums include the world prominent Matenadaran, which protects 25,000 of Armenia’s most prized medieval manuscripts and miniatures, a must on your visit. There are more than 30 museums in Yerevan, from the State History Museum and National Gallery (the largest of their kind in the Caucasus) to Art, Literature, Music, Natural History museums. Museums include excavations, woodworking, craft, children’s art, film and literature, and the soon to open Cafesjian Museum of Modern Art, which will hold one of the most important collections of modern art in the world.
The city also thrives on its new modernity, shaking off the shackles of Soviet conservatism for some openly celebrated hedonism. Don’t expect the excesses of Cannes or Lesbos (at least at regular venues), but you will be pleased at how cool the place can be, with discos, bars, clubs and cafés open all hours. Much of the night life doesn’t begin until 9 or 10 p.m. and can last til dawn. Like most ‘in-crowds’ it can be incestuous, but it is always fun for those who want it.
The city is in the throes of enormous changes now, not just between Diaspora and local Armenians, but also between the old world and the new. Reflected by the destruction of historic neighborhoods and the new high rises dotting the landscapes is some serious soul searching about what kind of country Armenians really want. I have found even the most diehard hedonist to have real concerns of what they can expect in their lifetimes, and for their children.
For most, Yerevan is the first stop on their visit. This is not necessarily a good thing, since the city is experiencing a number of growing pains, starting with a building boom that has turned this semi-desert city into one big construction site, with cranes, bulldozers and welders combing the rising structures of “New Yerevan”. Locals are unhappy to hostile about the whole thing, seeing entire old neighborhoods disappear so that developers can reap a quick profit. Never mind these neighborhoods were substandard and often lacked plumbing, or that in 20 years some of the new buildings will be hailed as “historic” structures not to be touched, Yerevantsi pride goes back thousands of years, and the new sits uncomfortably with memories of the old.
If you come in the summer (most do), you may find the air thick and unpleasant. It is all due to the construction (Yerevan can pride itself on having the highest per capita use of Natural Gas for fueling its cars). Until construction ends the air will continue to wane between a gorgeous blue after hard rains and winter snows, and a hazy white.
When clear, the amazing contour of Mt. Ararat looms over the entire city, dwarfing the tallest building. It is a tremendous thing of nature, and a melancholy reminder to Yerevantsis. Set inside present day Turkey, for thousands of years a part of historic Armenia and the symbol of the Armenian nation, the mountain is an untouchable dream, caught in glimpses and memories, shrouded in fog. So too, the Yerevan you may find. This is a city always on the brink, always reinventing itself. No matter how close you think you get to its pulse, t is enigmatic riddle that is its essence, the more unreachable it becomes, like the mountain in white air.
