Yerevan’s face has always been changed fast and arbitrarily. Even though different institutions have created a lot of departments in charge of professional discussions and advisory support, everything is instructed from the top and nothing goes through the filter of those discussions and professional conclusions. As the society is not used to using designer’s solutions and help, all constructions are done from the prospective of more financial profitability and the design and faces of constructions are obligated to people who don’t like them at all.
One of such examples is the decision to replace the summer hall of Moscow cinema house with a church (by the way, the finish is not clear yet as the idea has not been refused but the process is frozen), as well as the decision to build premises for the Catholicos near the Saint Catholic church of Yerevan instead of leaving an empty area there (there are groups that still complain about this).
The city is being dynamically changed and everything is happening so fast that the next generations cannot change anything, however definitely it would be better not to change anything for a while because the city is already “raped” and needs some rest.
One does not have to be a professional to notice that the architectural solutions in modern Armenia are monumental solutions with different decorative elements. Maybe the people who are responsible for the architectural view of the city are accepting this neo-Stalinian architecture as a stabile, quiet and life symbol. This is the spirit that was used to build the buildings of North Avenue, which according to architects may give a chance to the owners of those properties to attach importance to their personalities because the expensive and exclusive solutions are becoming a cover for them.
Recently we learnt about new architectural solution, one of which is large and the other one is small. However, it is not clear yet whether these plans will come true or no.
The city administration of Yerevan decided to install a monument of a man with horse with different details and solutions in the square after Garegin Nzhdeh, and the city construction ministry of Armenia announced that they are going to fulfill the dream of Alexander Tamanyan and finish the construction of the Republic Square.
The decision to install the monument has not been approved yet but it is already a fact that something will be installed there.
The city administration is going to build a new construction object in the Republic Square (the information posted in the web-site of the city construction ministry is presented as “One the way of fulfillment of Tamanyan’s dream”). This will be a tower with 50 meters height and 30 meters width, which will be made of tuf and will be built behind the building of the government. The web-site of the ministry writes that the tower will become the new symbol of Yerevan’s main republic. This building will also serve as administrative area for the ministries of Justice and Diaspora.
According to the general architect, the project has been launched already. The construction will start this summer and will be finished in two years. The starting amount of the project is 10 million dollars. According to the general architect N. Sargsyan, the investment will be made by the people who will receive permission to build a new complex in the place of the burnt building of the ministry of Justice. “Tamanyan was dreaming of establishing the number one square of the new statehood of Armenia, which does not look like the architect was planning,” said N. Sargsyan.
The author of the project, i.e. the general architect of Armenia believes that in order to make changes to the main square there must be state will and braveness, and it is impermissible to make experiments. However, financial resources matter too because the city has changed, enlarged and there are other places that need investment and are more important.
It’s worth mentioning that Tamanyan didn’t anticipate the construction of the National Gallery either but we cannot destroy what’s built because of respecting the past. Although, who knows? Maybe we can… If it’s so then the return of Lenin’s statue very much fits the logic of Yerevan’s chief architect. That would be a real valor. At any rate the city currently needs functional public buildings instead of abstract administrative symbols. The rates of urbanization worry us and in the meantime prompt that the density of objects in the central part of the city (and their senseless decoration) doesn’t stem from the interests of Yerevan. Perhaps valor would be not the increase of objects but their decrease. One thing is clear for sure. Not only the new buildings but also the funds spent and endeavor is worth being cut. And it’s no accident that the society goes against the construction of pathetic structure. The evidence of that is the wave of complaint, which arose around the project of construction of Anna Church and the office for the Catholicos. It is enough to overview the version of the project (which by the way was also realized without considering the public opinion) it becomes clear that the investors, donors and the government are trying to initiate wide-spread and upscale urbanization in the center of the city. They are doing so to deprive the next generations to do anything else. So we may assume that the religious complex (author Vahagn Movsisyan) will supplement the list of structures, which with pseudo-Tamanyan elements will continue to be built without considering the opinion of the population and the changes, which take place during years. Lastly, any initiative, which claims to be undertaken in the name of the exclusive truth and relevancy, will sooner or later be destroyed. And it doesn’t matter whether the building is a church or the continuation of the ideas of Tamanyan (which are made divine).