Historical Museum of Armenia (Yerevan, Armenia) – exhibitions, opening hours, address, phone numbers, official website.
Republic Square in Yerevan is known for the concentration of many sights and interesting places around it. Among the most famous and most visited is the National History Museum of Armenia. This institution with a century-old history (it was founded in 1921) can be called a real treasury, because its expositions can instantly take a person to the distant past of the country and tell about ancient people, formation of peoples and their life on this land over the centuries.
The huge collection is considered the richest in Armenia – the total number of objects in it – more than 400 thousand!
Almost all the exhibits are finds from numerous expeditions undertaken by prominent ethnographers. In the past they were owned by the Ani and Nakhijevan Museums and the Echmiadzin collection of ancient manuscripts, but later the funds were merged. Also many items were purchased from other countries or received as gifts.
What to see
The exhibition is divided into several parts, represented by objects from archaeological excavations, folios, ancient manuscripts, coins and objects of particular significance for ethnographic research. They cover a vast time period, from the age of upright man to the present day, and tell of various forms of intercultural interaction between tribes living in the lands of present-day Armenia, Byzantium, Iran, Persia, Egypt, Assyria and other countries.
Items from the Bronze Age deserve special attention: jewelry, weapons, tools, and, of course, findings relating to the history of the ancient kingdom of Urartu: obelisks from the cities of Erebuni and Taishebaini, royal armor, cuneiform tablets, ceramics, statuettes, bonework, and jewelry.
There is a separate hall with wooden carriages from the settlement of Lchashen, a unique collection of coins, including those that were in use during the ancient Artashesian dynasty, which ruled over a thousand years ago. In addition, one can see a lot of particularly valuable written artifacts – the only ones of their kind.
Among other exhibits, early Christian book miniatures, murals and sculptural reliefs from the Hellenistic period stand out. The exposition is rounded out by tsarist decrees and diplomatic documents about the life of Armenian communities in Russia, old printed books, as well as samples of folk crafts of modern times.
Practical information
Address: 4 Republic Square, Yerevan. Web site.
You can get there by subway (metro station “Republic Square”). Once out of the subway, cross Nalbandyan Street and turn left.
Working hours: Tuesday through Saturday from 11:30 am to 5:30 pm, on Sunday from 11:30 am to 5:00 pm. Monday is a day off.
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