HISTORICAL BUILDINGS

7th–19th centuries

The Yerevan Fortress was located on the left bank of the Hrazdan River. The early medieval fortress was probably situated in the Kond district and later expanded, occupying the area of the present-day Yerevan “Ararat” Wine Factory.

The fortress is first mentioned in the 7th century in connection with the Arab invasions. The historian Sebeos writes that the Arabs besieged the fortress but were unable to capture it. Later, the fortress was repeatedly mentioned by Armenian and foreign authors.

In the High Middle Ages, Yerevan Fortress was the center of the Ararat region and its main military stronghold. In the 15th century, together with the region, it became part of the Turkmen Aq Qoyunlu (“White Sheep”) state. In 1502, it was captured by the forces of Shah Ismail, founder of the Safavid Persia. During the 16th–18th centuries, amid nearly two centuries of Ottoman–Persian wars, the fortress changed hands 14 times, was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt, undergoing significant transformations.

During Persian rule, the palace and gardens of Tohmakh Khan were located here. In 1583 it passed to the Ottomans. The Ottoman commander Farhad Pasha rebuilt the surroundings of the palace within 45 days and reinforced the walls. For this purpose, Armenian churches were demolished and their stones were used for construction.

In 1604, under Shah Abbas I, the fortress was captured by the Persians and rebuilt and revitalized.

According to the 1639 treaty between the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Persia, Eastern Armenia came under Persian control and Western Armenia under Ottoman rule. Yerevan, as the administrative center of the Persian khanate, and the fortress as the residence of the khan (sardar), remained so until the early decades of the 19th century, until the end of Persian rule in the Caucasus.

The fortress was heavily damaged by the 1679 earthquake and restored under Persian sardar Zali Khan. In 1724 it was again captured by the Ottomans. The Persians regained control in 1735 during the reign of Nader Shah. The fortress was last strengthened and renovated in the 19th century under the last Persian sardar Hussein Qoli Khan, with the assistance of French and British military specialists.

No information has been preserved about the earliest structure of the fortress. The most notable structure from the Persian period is the Sardar’s Palace. It was reconstructed by Amir-Guna Khan (1604–1625) and later by Zali Khan after the 1679 earthquake. The construction of the Yerevan Sardar’s Palace was completed in the 1790s under Sardar Mahmad Khan. At that time, the mirror hall was built (architect: Mirza Jafar), which had a “paradise-like” garden. The 35 × 15 m palace was built of stone and mortar, while other buildings were constructed of stone and adobe.

The palace complex was turned into a citadel with a wall of 8 towers and a mosque. Externally, it was fortified with 43 towers. The wall built south of the fortress in 1603 was 355.5 m long. The fortress had two gates: Shirvan (northern) and Tabriz (southern), as well as an underground passage connecting it to the Hrazdan River.

In 1725, the Ottoman Rəcəb Pasha built the main mosque of the fortress.

During the Russo-Persian wars (1804–1813, 1826–1828), the Yerevan Fortress was besieged three times (1804, 1808, 1827) by Russian forces. Only on October 1, 1827, under General Ivan Paskevich and with the support of Armenians, did Russian troops succeed in capturing the fortress. A special medal was established to commemorate the capture, awarded to thousands of participants, and Paskevich received the title “Count of Yerevan”.

Under the Treaty of Turkmenchay signed on February 10, 1828, the fortress and the entire Transcaucasus were finally incorporated into the Russian Empire.

During Russian rule, the fortress retained its strategic importance as a border stronghold and administrative center. In 1828–1840 it served as the residence of the governor of the Armenian Oblast, in 1840–1850 as the seat of the governor of the Yerevan uyezd of the Georgian-Imeretian province, and in 1850–1864 as the residence of the Yerevan governor.

The mirror hall of the Sardar’s Palace housed a military club. In October 1827, Alexander Griboyedov’s play “Woe from Wit” was staged there with the participation of Russian officers, and the author himself attended the performance.

In 1827, the fortress was surveyed and found to be rectangular in shape (790 × 850 m), covering an area of about 7 hectares, with a total wall length of about 4.5 km. In 1837, Tsar Nicholas I stayed in the Sardar’s Palace.

From the second half of the 19th century, the fortress lost its strategic importance and was dissolved in 1864. The garrison was moved to Kanaker, and the area gradually turned into a residential district.

In 1877, Nerses Tairyan established a wine production facility in the former fortress area, and in 1887 a brandy production facility. His relative, the famous Armenian seascape painter Hovhannes Aivazovsky, financially supported the construction of the factory. Later, it became the property of the “Nikolay Shustov and Sons” company and was expanded.

In 1920, the complex was nationalized and later became part of the “Ararat” trust. Wine cellars were built on the site of the Sardar’s Palace in 1937 and 1961 (architects: Rafael Israelyan, Gevorg Kochar; sculptor: Ara Harutyunyan).

Later, residential developments were carried out in the fortress area, and in 2004 the “Yerevan Fortress” residential district was built.

Today, only abandoned barracks from the 19th–20th centuries and a small fragment of the Sardar Mosque (early 19th century) have been preserved.