Yerevan City Day (08/10)

Yerevan (arm. երան), (until 1936 Erivan) — is the capital of Armenia, one of the oldest surviving cities in the world (founded in 782 BC).

Residents of the city have been engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding since time immemorial. But the finds of examples of material culture — of iron tools, swords, daggers, bronze hammered belts, black crystal beads and gold jewelry — indicate that they were no less experienced in blacksmithing and metallurgy and were very skillful in a variety of crafts that have developed in Yerevan for centuries.

Experienced tanners, blacksmiths, carpenters, weavers, dyers and jewelers united in the craft workshops of — Amkarstvo, which had their own coats of arms and played a very significant role in the life of the city. Yerevan was one of the centers of Armenian art. Many famous scientists and chroniclers, poets and scriptwriters, printers and mathematicians, whose names are crowned with bright deeds, were born and created here.

The history of centuries gone by convinces us that the Yerevan resident who sowed bread and raised livestock, smelted iron and decorated manuscripts was also a brave warrior who did not spare his life for the sake of freedom and independence of the country.

There have been many black and bright days in the lifetime of Yerevan, and the chroniclers were guided, apparently, by the eternal Armenian wisdom: «Without remembering the evil, you will not receive the good», for the pages of parchment manuscripts are full of descriptions of the disasters that befell the heads of the Yerevan residents...

Located at the crossroads of trade routes, since time immemorial called the «Yerevan road», the city has always been a tempting target for foreign invaders. How many robber hordes did not have to fight back against Yerevan! In his memory, Mongol noyons and sultans of the Kara-Koyunlu Turks, Arab Vostikans and Seljuk emirs, Persian sardars and Russian governors came and went...

And the underground forces showed their black power against Yerevan — tens and hundreds of earthquakes Yerevan had to endure over its centuries-old history. Thus, on June 4, 1679, a terrible earthquake began on the Ararat Plain, when tremors were repeated almost every day for a month. Many villages and hamlets, churches and monasteries were reduced to ruins. The Garni temple collapsed. Yerevan was also destroyed to the ground. And then locusts came from the Persian sides...

The ruins of the Zvartnots temple in Yerevan, 7th century (Photo: Marc Venema, licensed by Shutterstock.com)

If the founding times and ancient period of Yerevan can be judged mainly by rock inscriptions, excavation materials and legends, then in restoring the appearance of medieval Yerevan, written sources are added to them. We are talking primarily about Armenian chroniclers. The appearance of medieval Yerevan was also captured by foreign travelers visiting the city in the 16th-18th centuries.

In the 17th and 19th centuries, Yerevan was the most dramatic point of relations between Russia, Turkey and Persia. He also attracted all kinds of Europeans pursuing their own interests — diplomats, observers, businessmen, scientists, artists, preachers and church leaders. Many of them left interesting travel notes covering not only political and military issues, but also various entertaining details and details of the life and way of life of Yerevan residents of those times.

In the 1960s, Paruyr Sevak’s poem « Erebuni — Yerevan» was born, which became the capital’s anthem (music by Edgar Hovhannisyan). The city holiday, which was first celebrated in 1968, began to be called the name of this song. Until 1988, it was celebrated annually, but after the country declared independence, this tradition resumed only in 1998.

According to Article 18 of the RA Law «On holidays and memorable days in the Republic of Armenia», by decision 882-N of the RA Government of June 23, 2005, Yerevan Day is celebrated on the second weekend of October.

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