8/19: Exploring Yerevan, Armenia: Monuments, Markets and the Cascade

After arriving from Paris late the night before, we were so relieved that our apartment for the next six nights in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, was so large and in a great location pretty close to the sights we intended to see downtown.

Interesting facts about Yerevan and Armenia: Until ten years ago, the only place in the capital that had WiFi was the zoo of all places! There are ten million Armenians in the world but only three million of them actually live in Armenia itself and, of those, one million in Yerevan. In Armenia, LA stands for Little Armenia as there are so many who consider themselves Armenians; there people joke they've been to Armenia because they've been to the LA suburb of Glendale! The largest communities in the Armenian Diaspora are in Russia, US, France and Canada. The federal government even has a Minister of the Diaspora, we were told.

We were in luck when we realized the statue outside the apartment was the first one of so many we'd see in the city.

A common sight at corners were mini fruit stands with enormous peaches and apples grown in Armenia. I swear I have never seen such large ones before.

Another very common sight was flower stands, especially those selling miniature roses.

Many of the sculptures had signs, in Armenian, Russian and English, describing them which was enormously helpful. This metal sculpture, called Book Your Future, was made up of letters from the 19 existing alphabets of the world when Yerevan was celebrated as the Book Capital of the World.

This art project on the wall was called the Eternal Alphabet and included many of 39 letters contained in the Armenian alphabet that was developed in 405 AD by Mesrop Mashots.

The letter 'A'.

The Cafesjian Center for the Arts, one of the city's major cultural attractions, was originally planned in the 1920s to modernize Yerevan but was put on hold for many decades.

These exterior sculptures certainly drew our attention!

We were the only tourists in the massive gallery where a monumental mural painting by Grigor Khanjyan celebrated significant events in the country's history: a one-day battle Armenians won in 451 AD against the Persians to retain Armenian Christianity and also the invention of the Armenian alphabet.

A photo of the center, also called the Cascade, but we initially only accessed the interior.

Next to the internal escalators were esoteric artworks from Cafesjian's personal collection of 20th century contemporary sculpture and furniture.

Another one of the center's intriguing external gardens:

The Swarovski Crystal Palace was a fascinating display of the crystals I had only ever seen before in shopping malls.

At the top of the hill behind the center was this ginormous Monument to 50 Years of Soviet Armenia.

Not far away, located in Victory Park, was another gigantic monument called Mother Armenia that symbolized all Armenians who fought in wars. At its base was a military museum that we found only moderately interesting, partially because all the displays were only in Armenian.

To reach the city center again, we needed to retrace our steps to the monument, visible in the middle background, below, and then walk down all 544 steps of the Cafesjian Center itself. The Mother Armenia monument was off to over my left shoulder so you can see we walked a good piece!

Steven and I were so amused to see in front of the Cascade a sculpture garden featuring three huge bronze works by Colombian sculptor Fernando Botero as we had so seen so many of his works in Bogota last September. This was called Woman Smoking a Cigarette which was perfect for Yerevan as we've noticed huge numbers of people smoking.

If you look closely, you can see the Cascade through the whimsical wrought-iron teapot!

Here's a less obstructed view of the Cafesjian Center or Cascade to show you the magnitude of the complex.

After walking all those steps, we were relieved that the small Yervand Kochar Museum was just a block away. The museum showcased the work of the prolific Armenian painter and sculptor, including Lonely Woman painted in 1913 when Kochar was only 13!

His most famous piece was the riveting Disaster of War painted in 1962 and compared to Pablo Picasso's most famous work, Guernica, that we plan to see in Madrid in mid-November. Over the years, it's been fascinating discovering the links among our trips from Botero in Bogota and Yerevan, Kochar and Picasso and so many others.

These two works were unlike any paintings we'd ever seen and caught our attention for a good while as they were each comprised of several components which rotated independently of each other. With each rotation, a new painting was revealed which was so incredibly fascinating.

I mentioned earlier about the development of the Armenian alphabet. Here's what it looks like!

One of the things we've loved all over Yerevan was seeing water fountains; unlike any other city we've been to with water fountains, these ones were always running. Obviously, no issues with lack of water in Armenia unlike in parts of the US!

Talking of fountains, there was a huge one in Republic Square, the city's main square originally named after Lenin, but renamed in 1990. The fountains perform to music nightly beginning at sunset in the summertime. In the background was the huge History Museum of Armenia which we spent time at. Much to my dismay, no photographs were allowed in the museum and eagle-eyed docents ensured none could be taken!

One of the objects I would have given my eye teeth to have a photo of was of the world's oldest shoe, an ancient leather women's shoe that testing dated to around 3500 BC! The size 7 shoe, found under a pile of animal dung in a cave, was made from leather sewn together like a moccasin and was found stuffed with grass as if the owner wanted to maintain the shape of the shoe.

When we travel, Steven and I always gravitate to handicrafts markets and Yerevan's Vernissage Market was no exception. Countless chess sets for sale attested to the game's popularity in Armenia. The fact that chess is a mandatory subject in Armenian schools from the fourth grade on accounts for the many world famous Armenian chess champions.

We saw  pomegranate designs on every conceivable object at the market - on magnets, paintings, pottery and textiles to name just a few! We realized a few days later that the pomegranate is the national fruit of Armenia so that explained its popularity at the market.

In several places throughout the city were these stone khachkars or memorial stones and focal points for worship unique to Armenia and listed by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage. This khachkar near the market was a three-layer cross stone shape.

In the same park was this cross-stone shaped one carved in 1584 and restored in 2015. We were very fortunate seeing many, many more the following day on an escorted day trip outside of Yerevan.

A couple more unusual monuments/sculptures caught our eye as we made our way back to the apartment after an enjoyable day seeing some of Yerevan's attractions.

Next post: Discovering some of Armenia's ancient monasteries and the former USSR's only Greek temple.

Posted on August 22nd, 2018, from Yerevan, Armenia.

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