HISTORICAL BUILDINGS
KARAPET AFRIKYAN’S RESIDENTIAL HOUSE
Early 20th century
It is located opposite the
Central Bus Station on Admiral Isakov Avenue.
As early as 1892, the wealthy
Karapet Afrikyan established a wine and cognac factory here, whose products
were successfully sold in cities of the Russian Empire and in Europe. The
complex once included industrial buildings and the owner’s summer house, built
in the early 20th century.
In September 1921, the Afrikyan
summer house hosted Armenian intellectuals, including Hovhannes Tumanyan, Leo,
and Derenik Demirchyan, among others, who had arrived from Tiflis to
participate in the September 13–20 meeting of the Armenian Relief Committee.
Of the once extensive complex,
only the summer house, two industrial buildings, and large wine cellar-storage
vaults have survived. The latter are carved into a layer of tuff in the ground.
The summer house building
currently houses the Research Institute of Viticulture, Winemaking, and Fruit
Growing, and in its collection wine cellar is preserved a khachkar dated 1586,
dedicated to the memory of Sukias, carved by the sculptor Hayrapet, brought
from Old Julfa in the 1970s.
The Afrikyan summer house is
the only surviving example of a suburban residence in Yerevan.
