MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES

The house-museum of the great Armenian writer, founder of new Armenian literature and pedagogy, Khachatur Abovyan, preserves and publicizes the life and creative values of the great enlightener.

State index: 1.12.15.2
1978
Architect: Liparit Sadoyan, Designer: Ilya Manucharyan
Sculptor: Levon Tokmajyan (with L. Sadoyan’s sketches)

One of the oldest districts of Yerevan, Kanaker, is home to the house-museum of the great Armenian enlightener Khachatur Abovyan. The museum is located on a 1-hectare plot, with fruit-bearing, decorative trees and flowers. The writer's ancestral house and the administrative-exhibition building are presented as separate structures. The ancestral home of the Abovyans has almost a three-hundred-year history. It is a one-story building with a flat roof, consisting of three rooms (tonratoon, warehouse, living room) and a large balcony, where the traditional Armenian atmosphere with its way of life and customs is preserved. This house was once a hospitable haven for high-ranking clergy, secular figures, and khans. Among its visitors were foreign scholars, including Friedrich Parrot, Friedrich Bodenstedt, Karl Koch, Herman Abikh, August Hacksthausen, and others.

VISITOR INFORMATION

Since 1938, the house has operated as a museum. The ancestral house and the museum building, built in 1978, are considered historical landmarks. The museum’s exhibition tells about the life and work of the great enlightener. In addition to biographical and creative documents, the exhibition features paintings, drawings, sculptures, samples of applied art, photographs, and documents. Notable exhibits include paintings by famous Armenian artists Gevorg Bashinjaghyan, Ervand Kochar, Eduard Isabekyan, and others, as well as antique and rare publications. Special attention is given to exhibits such as Abovian’s violin brought from Dorpat and his student years’ desk and chair. On the museum grounds stands a bronze statue of Abovyan, created by Andreas Ter-Maruqyan in Paris in 1913. It is the first monumental monument dedicated to a literary figure and is listed as a national historical landmark. One of the museum's highlights is the Abov’s Garden, which features an open-air library.

The Khachatur Abovyan House-Museum Complex (state index: 1.12.15, reconstructed: 1939, 1978) includes the writer's ancestral house, the museum building, the writer's statue, and the Friendship Fountain of Estonia and Armenia.

Within the framework of the events dedicated to Estonian literature and art in Armenia, on September 10, 1964, the monument to Khachatur Abovyan was installed in the complex (sculptor: Andreas Ter-Marukyan, 1913, Paris). The portrait of Abovyan by the famous Dorpat artist Friedrich Ludwig von Meydel served as the basis for the creation of the statue.

On the southern side of the complex is the Armenian and Estonian Friendship Fountain (architect: Rafael Israelyan, sculptor: Ara Harutyunyan, 1964).

HOURS AND ADMISSION