HISTORICAL BUILDINGS

1906

The building is located between Abovyan, Heratsi, and Koryun Streets, near Yerevan State Medical University.

The Teachers’ Seminary was opened on November 8, 1881, initially with two classes: preparatory and first grade. In 1882, the second class was opened, and in 1883, the third. Like similar educational institutions in the Caucasus, the seminary operated with a four-grade system throughout its existence.

In 1883, upon the proposal of the Caucasus Department of the Russian Geographical Society, a meteorological station was established adjacent to the seminary. It became one of the first and best-functioning stations in Yerevan.

In 1915, the seminary’s “Black Building” was occupied by a military garrison, and the educational institution was relocated to Armavir. During the years of the First Republic of Armenia, the building housed an orphanage for children rescued from the Armenian Genocide.

On May 16, 1919, the Armenian government adopted a decision to establish a university in Yerevan. Shortly after the establishment of Soviet rule in Armenia, in 1920 the university was renamed Yerevan People’s University, and from October 20, 1923, it became a state university.

In the 1960s, the university moved to a newly constructed building on Mravyan Street (now Alek Manukyan Street). The Faculty of Economics remained in the “Black Building,” later becoming an independent higher educational institution — the Institute of National Economy (now Armenian State University of Economics). Since 1995, the university of economics has moved elsewhere, and the building once again became a university facility, housing YSU’s faculties of History, Economics, and Theology.

The interior of the building underwent renovations. In the 1930s, it was reconstructed and a third floor was added, while the overall architectural style of the building was fully preserved.

The grave of historian Hakob Manandyan, the first rector of the university (1921–1922), was located in the seminary courtyard (state index: 1.6.177.1). In 2001, it was transferred to the Komitas Pantheon.

The building is three stories high with a basement. Its floor-plan structure is complex due to its functional purpose.

It consists of a main building and three additional sections — a central and two side wings. The building material used is Yerevan black tuff laid in midis masonry.