Must See Yerevan – Huffington Post

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Must See Yerevan – Huffington Post

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YEREVAN, May 16. /Novosti-Armenia/. 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 modeled after the great capitals of Western Europe.

A good way to start your cultural immersion into Armenia, is to head outside the city to the Monastery of Geghard, which is a UNESCO heritage site. The Geghard complex, which dates back to the 4th century A.D., is also known as "the Monastery of the Cave," and is cut into the cliffs in the Azat River gorge.

Ninety-seven percent of Armenians are Christian, and Geghard has been an important religious site dating back at least as far as the 13th century, when it was purported to have held many important relics, including the spear that wounded Christ on the cross.

A short 15-minute drive from Geghard, is the town of Garni. Here you can reach back even further into history, with a visit to the eponymous temple. Work on the Garni temple began in the first century A.D. This Hellenic structure, which was funded by Emperor Nero, has been restored after being partially destroyed by invasions and earthquakes over the centuries. It is the only surviving pagan temple in the entirety of the former Soviet Union.

With a look into Armenian antiquity complete, your next stop on the way back to Yerevan should be Victory Park. Perched in the hills above Yerevan, Victory Park features a very dated Soviet style amusement park complete with a Pripyat-esque 1980's ferris wheel, old Soviet military hardware (tanks, SAM's and even a MiG), as well as a brilliant lookout point providing great views of the city, and on a clear day, Mt. Ararat. The highlight of Victory Park however, is the 21-meter tall hammered copper Mother Armenia Statue, set atop a 30-meter high basalt base.

Back in "Kentron," the city center, Republic Square is not to be missed. Formerly known as Lenin Square, this "square" is actually an oval that was designed by Tamanyan to resemble a traditional Armenian rug when viewed from above. The square is ringed by the National Gallery, National History Museum and several government buildings. If you visit Armenia in the summer months, be sure to return to Republic Square after dark to see the "dancing fountains," a choreographed water show synched with lights and music.

Tamanyan envisioned Yerevan as a city with two centers, the main center being Republic Square, and the second, smaller center located around the Opera House. Northern Avenue is the pedestrian way linking these two focal points, and while strolling between them, you can find high end shopping, cafes and some of Yerevan's finest restaurants.

Perhaps the most impressive tourist attraction in the city center is the Cascade. Construction on this massive undertaking began in 1971, and it was not completed until 2009. The Cascade is a Soviet-sized stairway that links the city center to the hilltop neighborhood of Monument, where Victory Park is located.

The Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex houses both the Armenian Genocide Museum, and the Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial. The museum, which is less than ten minutes taxi ride from Republic Square offers an account of the 1915 genocide in which as many as 1.5 million Armenians perished while Armenia was part of the Ottoman Empire.

The final stop is the Khor Virap Monastery, located 20 miles South of Yerevan, and less than 500 yards from the Armenian-Turkish border. Construction of the still functioning church began in 642 A.D. and aside from viewing the Monastery, it's vantage point on a hilltop in Pokr Vedi affords unparalleled views of nearby Mt. Ararat just across the Turkish border. –0--

14:04 16.05.2014

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Aberdeen Press and Journal, Scotland
May 17 2014

History's forgotten catastrophe


With Iran to the south and Azerbaijan to the east, Armenia is
certainly stuck in a volatile part of the world. They most certainly
do not get on with Azerbaijan and, as for their relationship with
Turkey, well there's certainly no love lost there. But more about that
later.

Surrounded by Islam of varying degrees of intensity - Armenia, I found
out, was the first country to convert to Christianity in 301 AD. That
said, there's a wonderful almost Middle Eastern feeling here.

Stepping off the plane at Yerevan airport, the heat hit me like a
brick wall. It took an eternity to get through the hot, sweaty airport
but finally, with my luggage intact and visa in my passport, I was sat
on a ramshackle bus, heading to the capital.

I'd already booked myself into one of the few cheap B&Bs I could find
which, of course, was not in the centre but on the outskirts. Real
local, real poor area. I stepped off the bus and thought, "Oh aye,
this looks dodgy," as I started to walk down this dirt poor street
right in the middle of a residential area. However, I quickly realised
that the Lonely Planet travel guide book was right when it said: "The
Armenians will kill you with kindness, if you're offered hospitality,
don't rebuff it!"

People waved and smiled at the alien as kids played happily in the
street. And every time I walked up and down that street, they always
remembered me. By day four I was having tea and a BBQ in the garden
with one family after they beckoned me over. They wanted their son to
get practice speaking English.

I slept an astonishing nine hours on arrival the first night, so in
the morning as I sat in a wee rustic café, I was really up for my
first famous Armenian coffee which I'd read about in advance.

While the Turks claim coffee as theirs, the Armenians do so likewise.
I ain't going to argue. The Armenians call it soorch. I'd describe it
as a very potent, finely ground cup of lusciously rich rocket fuel.
Wow, hello world.

I walked for about 20 minutes, the heat already over 30 degrees, and
made it to the nearest metro station. As I headed down deep into the
tunnels, the temperature plummeted - oh what a godsend. So cool, so
refreshing, so welcome.

In the centre of Yerevan is Republic Square, a place where Stalinist
meets Armenian architecture; a stunning place that I loved just
wandering around at will, soaking it all up. From people on the
streets to café owners, the Armenians all seem friendly to strangers.
The interesting thing is - if you consider their history, they could
easily be forgiven for not being so friendly to outsiders.

With the world soon to commemorate World War 1, spare a thought for
the Armenian nation, for what it went through was horrific. In 1915,
our world experienced its first genocide when a staggering
one-and-a-half million Armenian men, woman and children died at the
hands of the brutal Turkish Ottoman Empire. Men were massacred or died
through slave labour, while woman and children died on death marches
through the Syrian Desert. Openly supported by the German government,
the plan was simply to eradicate the Armenian people - wipe them off
the face of the earth.

Just a few kilometres on a hill outside Yerevan is Tsitsernakaberd,
the Museum of the Armenian Genocide. I took a taxi out of town and
spent the day there. A very moving experience. The museum itself is
actually underground and was full of very harrowing pictures,
Holocaust style, that are near impossible to describe here. As I
wandered the museum, I once again had these thoughts: The world
rightly so talks about the Nazi Holocaust, but precious little is ever
said about Communist crimes, and practically no one talks about the
Armenian genocide. 1,500,000 murdered - have you even heard about it?

Above ground, there is a massive memorial consisting of a 40m high
spiral next to a circle of 12 basalt slabs that lean over to guard an
eternal flame. The 12 slabs represent the 12 lost provinces of west
Armenia (that to this day are still under Turkish control). Many
Armenians believe the slabs huddle like refugees around a fire while
on their way to being deported.

But it's a piece of nature that in some way is the eternal reminder of
what happened. Mount Ararat, the gigantic snow-capped peak that was
the symbol of everything Armenian, stands at over 16,000 ft. Armenians
can see Ararat every day, yet can't go there, for since 1915 Mount
Ararat has stood on Turkish soil and they've no intention of handing
it back. That must be very painful indeed.

Nearby the basalt slabs, there is a row of trees planted by foreign
lenders to show respect to those who were killed in the genocide. For
decades, the Turkish government denied any responsibility whatsoever.
It said that the genocide never happened and that the documents and
photos are fake.

Earlier this year their tone changed and they talked about "shared
pain" and expressed "condolences," over deaths in WW1. But they still
don't accept that the genocide took place.

Nothing other than Ankara recognising what happened, coupled with a
full apology, will suffice for the Armenian nation.

It all happened one hundred years ago, next year.

WW1 is not just about trenches in France, you know.


http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/3686277