Galleries and Museums to visit

National Gallery of Armenia (Yerevan)
2. Republic Square, Yerevan (+374-10) 58-08-12, 56-18-12
The floors above the National History Museum contain the National Picture Gallery. Start by taking the elevator to the top, then descend through the huge collection of Russian, Armenian, and European works. (Source: RDA)

Children's Art Gallery (Yerevan)

13 Abovian Street, Yerevan
Armenia has long been famed for its artists, sculptors and stone-carvers, and children are brought up to love art. For this reason the world’s first Children’s Picture Gallery (No. 13 on the corner of Abovian Street and Sayat Nova Street) is of interest. When the modern artist David Siqueiros visited the gallery he called it "a true festival for the children of the planet". (Source: Yerevan Guide)

Contemporary Art Museum (Yerevan)
7 Mashtots Street, Yerevan (+374-10) 53-56-61, 53-53-59
The Museum of Modern Art occupies the ground floor of No. 7. Frequent exhibitions of works by Armenian and foreign artists are held here, always attracting many lovers of painting, drawing and sculpture. (Source: Yerevan Guide)
Erebuni Fortress Museum (Yerevan)
38 Erebuni Street, Yerevan (+374-10) 57-32-02
Armenian scientists argue that one can derive the name Yerevan from Erebuni by a series of simple phonological shifts, suggesting that modern Yerevan is the lineal descendant of this 8th c. B.C. citadel. In 1998, the Mayor of Yerevan arranged a festivity marking the 2780th birthday of Yerevan. A good time was had by all. [Source: RDA]

Genocide Museum (Yerevan)
Tsitsernakaberd Park, Yerevan (+374-10) 39-09-81, 39-14-12
Tsitsernakaberd ("Swallow Castle") .It symbolizes Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. About 1.5 million armenians were murdered and deported during that time period. The Museum's testimony to the 1915 destruction of the Armenian communities of Eastern Anatolia is moving, and the monument itself is austere but powerful. The riven spire symbolizes the sundering of the Eastern and Western branches of the Armenian people. The view over the Ararat valley is striking. [Source: RDA]

National History Museum (Yerevan)
Republic Square, Yerevan (+374-10) 58-27-61, 52-14-57
The State History Museum in Republic Square (formerly Lenin Square) is notable for the statues of Catherine the Great and Lenin squirreled away in a back courtyard ready for any change in the political winds. Yerevan

Matenadaran Manuscript Museum (Yerevan)
53 Mashtots Street, Yerevan (+374-10) 58-32-92
http://www.matenadaran.am/
The Matenadaran (manuscripts library) is the other world-class museum in Yerevan, not for its exhibitions per se, but rather for its status as the eternal (one hopes) repository for Armenia's medieval written culture. A vast gray basalt mass at the top of Mashtots Blvd. (built 1945-57, architect M. Grigorian), the Matenadaran is guarded by the statue of primordial alphabet-giver S. Mashtots (ca. 400) and those of the other main figures of Armenian literature: Movses Khorenatsi (5th -- or maybe 8th -- century "father of Armenian history"); T'oros Roslin (13th c. manuscript illuminator in Hromkla/Rum Qalat near Edessa); Grigor Tatevatsi (theologian of Tatev Monastery, died 1409); Anania Shirakatsi (7th c. mathematician, studied in Trebizond, fixed the Armenian calendar); Mkhitar Gosh (died 1213, cleric and law codifier); and Frik (ca. 1230-1310, poet).