Sunday – July 28, 2013
Goods For Sale
Francoise left Yerevan and flew home to France very early this morning. After I had breakfast at the hotel, I walked to the Vernissage outdoor market at the end of the street.
Craftsperson
The Vernissage continues the old trading tradition of the ancient Silk Road which passed through Armenia for thousands of years. I had just two days left and I wanted to get some last minute souvenirs to take home.
Vernissage Vendors
Afterwards, I went to the Republic Square to find a taxi to the Sergey Parajanov Museum. The taxi driver didn’t know the location of the museum so he asked several other drivers. None of them knew where the museum was located. I took my map of Yerevan out of my bag and showed it to the taxi driver and pointed to the museum on the map. He studied it for a few minutes and nodded his head and indicated to me to get into his taxi. The Parajanov Museum was located on a small dead-end street in a row of old residences along the top of the Hasdan Gorge.
Parajanov Museum Overlooking the Hasdan Gorge
Sergei Parajanov (1924-1990) was a Soviet Armenian film director and artist. He invented his own cinematic style and maintained creative control over his films, despite the “socialist realism” dictated by the communist government at the time. He was imprisoned twice and persecuted by the Soviet regime.
Looking Into the Gorge & the Hasdan Stadium
Entrance to the Parajanov Museum
The Main Room of the Museum
According to the guide, Parajanov never lived in the house. Parajanov moved to Yerevan and chose the location of the museum in 1988. A group of loyal friends and admirers opened the museum after Parajanov’s death in 1990.
Homage to Parajanov
Sergei Parajanov’s best known films are: “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors”, “The Color of Pomegranates” and “The Legend of Suram Fortress.” Although his films achieved international acclaim, they were banned in the Soviet Union and Parajanov was blacklisted from Soviet cinema.
Decorated Hats
The guide stated that Parajanov loved beautiful things. He redecorated hats with a variety of objects and presented the hats to his female friends.
Additional Display Rooms
The museum is brimming with thousands of art objects which Parajanov created. His collection includes films, installations, collages, assemblages, drawings, dolls, hats, paintings, screenplays, librettos, and costumes. The works of art demonstrate Parajanov’s amazing creativity.
Parajanov Memorabilia
A Bedroom
I left the Parajanov Museum and found another taxi to take me to the Tumanyan Museum. Hovhannes Tumanyan (1869-1923) was an Armenian poet and writer who is considered to be “the greatest of all the Armenian poets, a patriarch of new Armenian poetry.” One of Tumanyan’s famous poems was titled, “A Drop of Honey.”
Museum of Hovhannes Tumanyan
The museum has a large collection of manuscripts, letters, books, photographs, drawings, translations, and memorabilia collected during Tumanyan’s lifetime. He wrote poetry, novels, articles for journals, librettos, and fairy tales. One of the women in the hotel told me that Toumanyan was her favorite author. When she was young, she visited his museum several times a year to see his original manuscripts.
View Down Toumanyan Street
After seeing the exhibits in the museum, I walked down Toumanyan Street toward the center of Yerevan. The traffic was light and families were out shopping or eating at the many local restaurants which lined the street.
Mer Tagh Outdoor Cafe
Eventually, I decided to stop and had a very late lunch at Mer Tagh. I had a very good ‘lachmajoun’ which is referred to as Armenian pizza. This is a thin-crust pizza with chopped meat, tomato sauce and spices. Yum! It was fun to sit outdoors and watch the weekend shoppers and tourists pass by.
Walking Down North Way
