SQUARES AND PARKS

1936, 1960s

The Komitas Pantheon, located within Komitas Park, occupies an elevated site on the left bank of the Hrazdan River, along Arshakunyats Avenue. It is the burial place of many distinguished Armenian scholars, cultural figures, and public and political leaders. The park is bordered on the west by a tuff-stone wall separating it from residential buildings, while its northern and southern boundaries adjoin the surrounding park area.

Until the mid-1930s, the site was occupied by the city's old public cemetery, known as Mler, where both Armenians and Russians were buried. A common grave containing the remains of the heroes of the Battle of Sardarapat (May 1918) was also located here.

In 1900, a small domed church with a cruciform plan was built in the cemetery to the design of architect Vasily Mirzoyan. On Boris Mehrabyan's master plan of Yerevan (1906–1911), it is marked as «Церковь Кладбищенская» ("Cemetery Church"). The church was demolished in 1935. Its foundations were later uncovered during the construction of fountains within the park.

In 1930, by decision of the Executive Committee of the Yerevan City Council, the cemetery was closed and transformed into a public park. The relatives of the deceased transferred their family members' remains to other cemeteries. In the spring of the same year, at the initiative of Aghasi Khanjyan, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia, a section of the park surrounding the grave of poet Hovhannes Hovhannisyan was designated as the Cemetery of Writers and Artists. Following the burial of writer Alexander Shirvanzade in 1935, it became known as the Pantheon of Writers and Cultural Figures.

In 1936, one year after his death, the remains of Komitas were reinterred here. From 1936 to 1957, until the death of Avetik Isahakyan, the Pantheon remained closed and no burials took place.

In October 1955, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Komitas's death, a monument to Komitas—the first monument erected in the Pantheon—was unveiled (architect: Grigor Aghababyan; sculptor: Ara Harutyunyan). Thereafter, the park was named after Komitas. In 1961, following the burial of the renowned actor Hrachya Nersisyan, the cemetery officially became known as the Komitas Pantheon of Yerevan.

In the 1960s, extensive landscaping and improvement works began at the Pantheon. In 1969, the northern boundary wall, built of tuff stone and adorned with sculptural decoration, was completed. During the construction works, the remains of prominent Armenians buried in different parts of the park were reinterred in the Pantheon. New gravestones were installed, the burial sites were restored, and the entire area was landscaped.

In 1993, with financial support from Yerevan Bread Factory No. 5, the western boundary wall separating the Pantheon from the adjacent residential area was constructed. In 1998–1999, the southern boundary wall of the cemetery was built. During the same period, the interior partition wall and the concrete stage were demolished, and the ornamental pool was filled in.

In 2005, further restoration and landscaping works were carried out throughout the Pantheon.

Among those buried in the Pantheon are the archaeologist, folklorist and ethnographer Yervand Lalayan; the historian, writer and literary scholar Leo (Arakel Babakhanian); the hydraulic engineer Sahak Lisitsyan, builder of Yerevan's first water supply system; the historian and philologist Hakob Manandyan; writers Avetik Isahakyan, Stepan Zoryan, Alexander Shirvanzade, Hovhannes Shiraz, Petros Duryan, Silva Kaputikyan, Hamo Sahyan, William Saroyan and Hovhannes Hovhannisyan; opera singer Gohar Gasparyan; composers and conductors Aram Khachaturian, Romanos Melikyan and Spyridon Melikyan; painters Vrtanes Akhikyan, Yeghishe Tadevossian, Martiros Saryan and Mariam Aslamazyan; architects Toros Toramanyan and Alexander Tamanyan; prominent figures of Armenian theatre and cinema, including Hovhannes Abelyan, Vahram Papazyan, Vardan Ajemyan, Hrachya Nersisyan, Sos Sargsyan, Mher Mkrtchyan, Sergei Parajanov and Arus Asryan; as well as National Hero of the Republic of Armenia Karen Demirchyan, among many others.

Outside the Pantheon grounds, near the main entrance to the park, the grave of the poet Shushanik Kurghinyan has been preserved in its original location.