Tsitsernakaberd

Tsitsernakaberd / The Armenian Genocide Museum
Ծիծեռնակաբերդ
The Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide memorial
Established	1967
Location	Yerevan, Armenia
Director	Hayk Demoyan
Website	www.genocide-museum.am

The 44-meter stele

The Eternal Flame at the center of the 12 slabs, symbolizing the 12 lost Armenian provinces

Tsitsernakaberd (Armenian: Ծիծեռնակաբերդ) is a memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide; it is located on a hill overlooking Yerevan, Armenia. Every year on April 24, hundreds of thousands of Armenians gather here to remember the victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide that took place in the Ottoman Empire carried out by the Turkish government.

Etymology

Ծիծեռնակաբերդ (Swallow's fortress) is an agglutinative compound noun in Armenian composed of the roots ծիծեռնակ (swallow) and բերդ (fortress) with the agglutinating infix <ա>.

History of the Site

The memorial sits on one of three hills along the Hrazdan River that carry the name Tsitsernakaberd, and was the site of what was once an Iron Age fortress. Most of the above ground traces at this peak have since disappeared, but upon the smaller hill are still traces of a castle. Archaeological surveys took place in 2007, and excavations uncovered a wall that is hundreds of metres long and may still be seen in many places above ground. An altar cut from stone sits in the middle of a square at the edge of one of the hills, and large stones that weigh approximately two tons are still visible that cover graves from the second millennium BC. Apartments were later built along the hills during Roman times, and were built over with other structures during medieval years. Nearby are also the remains of a very large building with a cave.

Construction

Construction of the memorial began in 1966 (during Soviet times) in response to the 1965 Yerevan demonstrations during which one million people demonstrated in Yerevan for 24 hours to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Genocide. The memorial is designed by architects Arthur Tarkhanyan, Sashur Kalashyan and artist Hovhannes Khachatryan. It was completed in November 1967.

Design

The 44 meter stele symbolizes the national rebirth of Armenians. 12 slabs are positioned in a circle, representing the 12 lost provinces in present day Turkey. In the center of the circle, at a depth of 1.5 meters, there is an eternal flame dedicated to the 1.5 million Armenians killed during the Armenian Genocide.

Along the park at the memorial there is a 100 meter wall with names of towns and villages where massacres are known to have taken place. On the rear side of the commemoration wall, plates have been attached to honor persons who have committed themselves to relieving the distress of the victims during and after the genocide (among others: Johannes Lepsius, Franz Werfel, Armin T. Wegner, Henry Morgenthau Sr., Fridtjof Nansen, Pope Benedict XV, Jakob Künzler, Bodil Biørn).

As an act of commemoration of the victims, an alley of trees has been planted.

Armenian Genocide Museum

The Armenian Genocide Museum opened its doors in 1995, concurrently commemorating the eightieth anniversary of the Genocide. The Museum structure, planned by architects S. Kalashian, A. Tarkhanyan and sculptor F. Araqelyan, has a unique design. Since opening its doors, the Museum has received many thousands of visitors including schoolchildren, college students and huge numbers of tourists from outside Armenia. The museum provides guided tours in Armenian, Russian, English, French and German. The Republic of Armenia has made visiting the Armenian Genocide Museum part of the official State protocol and many official foreign delegations have already visited the Museum. These delegations have included Pope John Paul II, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, President of France Jacques Chirac, and other well-known social and political figures. The museum contains historical documents and is open to the public for tours.

The impressive two-story building is built directly into the side of a hill so as not to detract from the imposing presence of the Genocide Monument nearby. The roof of the Museum is flat and covered with concrete tiles. It overlooks the scenic Ararat Valley and majestic Mount Ararat. The first floor of the Museum is subterranean and houses the administrative, engineering and technical maintenance offices as well as Komitas Hall, which seats 170 people. Here also are situated the storage rooms for museum artifacts and scientific objects, as well as a library and a reading hall. The Museum exhibit is located on the second floor in a space just over 1,000 square meters in size. There are three main indoor exhibit halls and an outer gallery with its own hall. The Genocide Monument is designed to memorialize the innocent victims of the first Genocide of the 20th century. The Genocide Museum’s mission is rooted in the fact that understanding the Armenian Genocide is an important step in preventing similar future tragedies, in keeping with the notion that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.

The current director of the Museum is Dr. Hayk Demoyan.

Trivia

• Boris Yeltsin, the first president of the Russian Federation, left a comment in the visitor guestbook stating that "The genocide of the Armenian people in 1915–22 is a global disgrace."

Gallery

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  A memorial sculpture, part of the Armenian Genocide museum below

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  Row of memorial trees planted by foreign dignitaries

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  Closeup of a memorial tree

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  Memorial wall with the names of towns and villages where the genocide took place

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  Steps leading up to the memorial from downtown Yerevan

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  Catholicos Karekin II and Archbishop Rowan Williams during a memorial ceremony

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  Khachkar in memory of Sumqayit victims

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  Khachkar in memory of Baku victims

See also

• 1965 Yerevan Demonstrations
• Armenian Genocide
• Genocide Remembrance Day
• List of Armenian Genocide memorials

References

• Genocide.am - Photos of Tsitsernakaberd memorial
• Kiesling, Brady (2005), Rediscovering Armenia: Guide, Yerevan, Armenia: Matit Graphic Design Studio 

External links

• Archaeological Information of the Site
• Official site