MONUMENTS

1999

Sculptor: Aram Gharibyan

The statue of Anania Shirakatsi (7th century), an Armenian philosopher, astronomer, mathematician, geographer, calendar expert, and pedagogue of the early Middle Ages, is located near the central building of Yerevan State University.

The statue is made of basalt and is 4 m tall. The great thinker is presented in full height, in a standing position, holding a spherical model of the Earth in his hand.

Shirakatsi believed that the planet Earth is spherical, and the Moon is a planet devoid of its own light, that the Sun is larger than both the Moon and the Earth and is located at a very great distance. He explained the occurrence of lunar phases, sea tides and ebbs, solar and lunar eclipses, natural phenomena, provided interpretations of Armenian astronomical terms, and wrote a textbook on arithmetic, studies on measures and weights, zodiac signs, geography, and more. Shirakatsi played a significant role in the development of medieval Armenian scientific and philosophical thought.

“Scientific Research Centre of Historical and Cultural Heritage” SNCO

Yerevan Municipality