PLACE DE LA REPUBLIQUE (HANRABEDOUTIAN HRABARAK)

This is the centre of power and business From 1940 to 1991, it was a bronze Lenin who welcomed generations of tourists systematically housed in Hotel Armenia, on the immense oval square that bore his name. The Guide to the Revolution also guided their steps in the Armenian capital, inviting them to honour the memory of its fellow companions and spiritual sons Armenian, Russian or representatives of other «fraternal peoples of the Soviet Union», immortalized in the countless statues erected on the squares and streets of the capital. He also called on them to take the route of the cultural and economic achievements of the «glorious Soviet Armenian». Instead of a large billboard, the statue of the commander is now broken, those of the other local dignitaries remained standing, but they are more appreciated as benchmarks to orient themselves in the city by a population that mal the addresses - especially since the changes of names of the last few years - than for their monumental or artistic value embellished by brochures of the Soviet era. The Yerevan visit now demands other benchmarks, less marked politically. Beyond the green belt of the boulevards, on the wooded heights dominating the city, one can certainly rely on the profusion of Soviet constructions to guide themselves: it is difficult to lose the north with the monument of Mother Armenia (Maïr Haïastan), a huge statue representing a warrior the sword at hand, and more to the west, the obelisk, just as gigantic, erected for the fiftieth anniversary of Soviet Armenia; on the south, Mount Ararat is responsible for indicating this! Despite its desecration, the Place of the Republic remains the centre of gravity of the Armenian capital. The other major square, the Place de l'Opéra, in the north, had almost robbed him of the star at the end of the 1980 s, becoming the nerve centre of the Soviet regime's challenge, carved in the solemnity of the official buildings of a Lenin square near the Kremlin. While the Communist Party's local apparatchiks passed their troops in the official gallery in front of Lenin's statue, the of the opera house welcomed the tribune from which the actors of the Rai Movement, including Lévon Ter Pétrossian, haranguaient immense crowds gathered in the surrounding gardens. As we know, the former dissidents won the political battle, which in turn set up their neighbourhoods on the great square, where the government headquarters brought the red flag back to the Armenian tricolore. The place of the Republic is the centre of political power; as for the place de l'Opéra, renamed Place de la Liberté (Azadoutian Hrabarak), it was a cultural function, while remaining the place to elect major opposition events. Since then, these two places, so different in their design, have thus found their marks and have more peaceful relations; they determine, each in its own way, the urban life of Yerevan, and are valuable landmarks for the tourist, whose strolls in the heart of the capital will lead to the steps necessarily from one to another, all the more easily since a new artery, Northern Avenue (Hussissaïne), taillant in the middle district, links them since 2007. As the Centre of Armenian political power, the place of the Republic (called more simply «place», Hrabarak, by the Erevantsi) kept this solemn solemnity somewhat static, without being austere, which was sought by the planner and architect Alexandre Tamanian (1876-1936) by laying the plans in 1924. It was then to affirm in the stone, more precisely the tufa, the strength of the new power. The objective was achieved: This square of 14 000 m ², from which there are large avenues leading to the heights of Yerevan, has something to impress the visitor. Epousant the oval of the square, the facades adorning buildings lined with pink and orange tufa crafting of traditional Armenian motifs and pierced by arcades, on the model of the imposing seat of the government - in the western part - confer undeniable originality to the whole, which evokes a theatre decor… especially when behind these imposing facades - in the western part, many departments and their departments - appear in land. waves where major building works are involved in the restoration of buildings dating back to the last century! The Place of the Republic has also become the heart of the Yerevan business district. It is within this perimeter that most hotels and seats of major banks are concentrated (including the British bank HSBC, located in Vasken Sarksian Street, under one wing of the Marriott Armenia Hotel, near the Théâtre Paronian theatre, in front of the former location of the statue of Lenin). Entrepreneurs of all countries, unite! This concentration of activities generates a rather eclectic animation, where one sees oneself with foreign tourists drawn by the sleeve by small beggars, "young wolves" of Armenian business seated at the terraces of the cafés in great negotiation with foreign businessmen, peasants waiting in front of the Central Post a unlikely telephone communication with their village, and mother of family walks around the "Singing Fountains", which limits the northern part of the square. Before the imposing white stone building of the Armenian History museum, a basin with multiple water jets, where children bathe in summer, is one of Yerevan's hikers; In the evening, he attracts the onlookers for his show «water, lights and sounds», screaming folk tunes or varieties like those that can be heard in the small nearby philharmonic hall, at No. 2 of Abovian Street. Suitable for both the gallant and the drague meetings, the Singing Fountains are one of those places where one likes to display his last attire, after plotting on Abovian Street, which begins at the basin steps.