Glimpses of Old Yerevan
................................................................................................................................................................................................
Mount Ararat, photo by Aram, 2007
When Argishti chose the spot for the fortress of Erebuni in the 8th century BC, he showed good aesthetic and tactical judgment. Surrounded on three sides by mountains, including the majestic stratovolcano of Mount Ararat, the inhabitants of Yerevan have always had a breathtaking natural monument to wake up to and take their bearings from. Yerevan's strategic significance is evidenced by the succession of peoples who fought over and occupied the city in their bid to impose their wills upon the region : the Romans, Arabs, Persians, Seljuk Turks, Tamerlane, Ottomans and Russians. Because of the pillage, incessant conflict and instability, Yerevan did not develop much beyond being 'a garrison town of mud-brick and gardens' until the 19th century.
During the second Russian-Persian war, Yerevan was liberated by Russian troops under Ivan Paskevich on 1 October 1827. It was formally ceded by the Persians in 1828. Following the Treaty of Turkamanchai, Tsarist Russia sponsored Armenian resettlement from Persia and Turkey; by the turn of the twentieth century, Yerevan's population was over 29,000, of which 49% were Azerbaijani (described by Russian sources as "Azerbaijani Tatars"), 48% Armenian and 2% Russian.The European style buildings mostly disappeared after the Soviets finally took control of Yerevan in 1921 and began turning it into an industrial metropolis. The remnants of pre-Soviet Yerevan are dilapidated and scarred, but they offer glimpses...The city began to grow economically and politically, with old buildings torn down and new buildings in European style erected in their place. In 1829, Armenian repatriates from Persia were resettled in the city and a new quarter was built.
The first general plan of the city was made in 1854, during which time the womens' colleges of St. Hripsime and St. Gayane were opened and the English Garden built. In 1874, Zacharia Gevorkian opened Yerevan's first printing house and in 1879 the first theatre, sited near the church of St. Peter and Paul, was established. Two years into the twentieth century, a railway line linked Yerevan with Alexandropol, Tiflis and Julfa, the same year Yerevan's first public library opened.
Beauty Salon
The Gök-Jami ("Blue Mosque"), the largest mosque in Yerevan and the only one that survived the Soviet period.
From Armeniapedia:
The largest mosque of Yerevan and only one still preserved, the Gyoy or Gök-Jami, (gök means "sky-blue" in Turkish - more commonly known as the Blue Mosque) was built in AH 1179 or AD 1765/6 by the command of local ruler Hussein Ali-Khan to be the main Friday mosque. The mosque portal and minaret were decorated with fine tile work. The central court had a fountain, with cells and other auxiliary building around it, and stately elm trees. There was an adjoining hamam and school. In Soviet times, the mosque housed the Museum of the City of Yerevan. In the mid-1990s, the powerful Iranian quasi-statal foundation for religious propagation agreed to fund a total restoration of the mosque with shiny new brick and tile. This restoration, structurally necessary but aesthetically ambiguous, was largely finished in 1999. However, Armenian authorities, torn between the need to placate a powerful neighbor and desire to minimize the practice of an unpopular religion, have been slow to bless the reconsecration of the complex as a mosque, suggesting it should serve as a cultural center instead.
All photos by Vahan Bego, 2006, except Mount Ararat, by Aram, 2007
Links
This historic landmark is being torn down
