Yerevan 2800th Anniversary Park (public park in Kentron administrative district of Yerevan), also known as the Vardanyan's park,[1] was opened on 10 May 2019. The park is a gift from Mikayel and Karen Vardanyan on the 2800th anniversary of the foundation of Yerevan city.
Previously this area was a marginal part of the English Park. After the construction of the Italy Street in 2002, this site seemed to have turned into an island. Due to the lack of maintenance of the area and its poor condition, it ceased to serve as a public park area. At that time the trees of the park were sick, old and rotten, the benches were damaged, the fountains were destroyed and non-functioning. It was in this area that the construction of Yerevan 2800th Anniversary Park started in the beginning of 2018 and was finished in 2019. It took half a year to create the project and another year and a half to complete the construction of the park. According to the new architectural project, during the construction everything in the park has been changed including soil replacement of the park territory.[4]
The grand opening ceremony of the park, that took place on May 10, 2019,[5] was attended by the Prime Minister of Armenia, the Mayor of Yerevan and numerous guests.[6] The park was completely built with the financial support provided by the “Vardanyan Family” Charity Foundation. The author of the project is Karen Vardanyan. The amount of 5 million 300 thousand US dollars has been spent on the implementation of this project.
Besides the construction of the park, from the 2019 on the “Vardanyan Family” Charity Foundation will also cover the expenses of care and maintenance of the park for a period of the next 99 years.[7]
Green area
The green area of the park is 7,500 sq.m. There are 369 trees of 70 species in the park. Taking into consideration the climate conditions of Armenia, 250 unique and exotic trees such as Hamamelis “Ruby Glow”, Fagus sylvatica “Purpurea Tricolor”, Magnolia acuminata, Oxydendrum arboreum, Stewartia pseudocamellia, Heptacodium miconioides, Pterostyrax hispidus and others were carefully selected and imported for planting in the park. There are also colourful and beautiful flowerbeds in the park.
The park is both-side surrounded by a fence of bushes of Ligustrum vulgare species. Green areas are irrigated by an automated drip and sprinkler autonomous system. Irrigation is carried out only at night in order not to disturb visitors.
Fountains
Every year the park fountains are turned on in the beginning of May and turned off by the end of October depending on weather condition. All the fountains [8] run daily from 11:00AM to midnight, and in May and October to 09:00PM. The fountains’ lighting is automatically turned on in the evening at dusk and is turned off at midnight.
In the park there are 5 types of fountains with multicolored lighting and granite basins: pedestrian, with ascending waters, rotating, sparkling and arched.
The basins of all the fountains in the park are made of 2 color granite tiles. Granite tiles are engraved with Armenian traditional ornaments.
The fountain complex consists of 10 pools-5 on each side, and 2,800 water jet fountains decorated with Armenian ornaments made of aluminum.
There are drinking fountains on both ends of the complex. The design of granite and aluminum patterns for each of the 10 basins is unique and unrepeatable.
In the central part of the park there is a map of pink quartzite with engraved names of 12 administrative districts of Yerevan. The map is surrounded by fountains.
A water arch with 30 water jets was installed in the park. According to the visitors’ beliefs, walking through the arched fountain has a healing effect.
A square, engraved in the form of the smaller scale map of Yerevan city, with its 45 rising water jets was also constructed in the park. It is equipped with four sensors that enable changing the dynamics of the fountain by touching. In the evening, the area is surrounded by illuminated colorful fog, periodically emerging from the surface of the ground. Hrazdan river with its 4 bridges is also symbolized on the map in blue granite.
Unlike ordinary fountains, an underground powerful facility with its pools, modern systems of pipes and pumps has been built to ensure the maintenance and beautiful appearance of the fountains of Yerevan 2800th Anniversary park and to provide the safety and comfort of visitors.
Block Pavement
The block pavement of the park with total area of 5.420 sq.m is made of 500,000 pieces of 7 colours of granite cobbles 10x10x5 cm in size. The entire surface under the pavement is reinforced by concrete and has its appropriate drainage system. The pavement patterns of the park are almost entirely taken from the ornaments of ancient traditional Armenian carpets, and part of the ornaments repeats the patterns of Erebuni fortress of the Urartian era.
In the center of the pavement there is a narrow oblong rug path decorated with patterns of Armenian carpets. The decoration system of carpets, particularly of “ Chartar” type, characterized by interconnected chains of diamond-shaped large creations is in the base of the rug structure. The main composition of the late period dragon carpet of “Khndzoresk” type is represented. It contains the symbol of the Sun representing the eternal conflict between good and evil and eight stylizations of the Dragon surrounding the Sun. The patterns of the “tree of life” initiated from the Sun symbol represent the victory of good and the idea of eternal life. The linear version of the central sector of the dragon carpet “Guhar” woven in 1680 is in the center of the large diamond-shaped ornament. The corners are decorated with stylized dragon figures typical to the late period-dragon carpets of “Masyatsotn” type, and with stepped diamond-shaped patterns typical to “Chartar” type carpets.
Statues
Seven bronze statues are installed in the park which were ordered and created especially for the Yerevan 2800th Anniversary park. The entrance of the park is decorated with bull and lion bronze statues made by analogy with the frescoes of Erebuni fortress. In four corners of the fountain which has the form of the map of Yerevan there are four bronze statues of children (“Imagination”, “Caring”, “Chastity”, “Happiness”), as well as there is a statue of a child with a boat (“Childhood”) on the site symbolizing the Yerevan lake. The statues represent the images of children of Yerevan city of the 1970s and 1980s.[9]
The statues installed in the park have been created by a group of sculptors headed by Armen Samvelyan.
Interesting facts
On the territory of the park there are 76 benches, 62 garbage cans and 126 lampposts with original design, specially made for this park. The largest number of tree species, benches, garbage cans and lampposts per 1 sq.m. in Armenia can be found in Yerevan 2800th Anniversary Park.[10]
At the end of the park there is Alexander Miasnikian’s statue (sculptor Ara Shiraz, architect Jim Torosian), erected in 1980. Anyway, Alexander Miasnikian’s statue has no connection with the Yerevan 2800th Anniversary Park, which is under the jurisdiction of Yerevan Municipality. The statue is maintained by the Ministry of Culture of Armenia.
During 2020-2022, the monument complex, which was in unsafe state of disrepair, was restored with the initiative and financing of Mikael and Karen Vardanyan.[11]
A wind sensor is installed in the park, by which, depending on the strength of the wind, the arched fountain automatically turns off, and the water jets of the other fountains are reduced in order not to spray visitors.
In the park there is an obelisk with symbols of Erebuni fortress and Yerevan city, presenting brief information about the park in 4 languages.
The main precondition presented by the philanthropists Mikayel and Karen Vardanyan to Yerevan Municipality is that the park must remain the property of the Yerevan community, and any business activity on the territory of the park must be banned.
