Tsitsernakaberd
Encyclopedia
Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
; it is located on a hill overlooking Yerevan
Yerevan
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
, Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
. Every year on April 24, hundreds of thousands of Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
gather here to remember the victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide that took place in the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
carried out by the Turkish government.
Etymology
(Swallow's fortress) is an agglutinativeAgglutination
In contemporary linguistics, agglutination usually refers to the kind of morphological derivation in which there is a one-to-one correspondence between affixes and syntactical categories. Languages that use agglutination widely are called agglutinative languages...
compound
Compound (linguistics)
In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes...
noun in Armenian composed of the roots (swallow
Swallow
The swallows and martins are a group of passerine birds in the family Hirundinidae which are characterised by their adaptation to aerial feeding...
) and (fortress) with the agglutinating infix <ա>.
History of the Site
The memorial sits on one of three hills along the Hrazdan RiverHrazdan River
The Hrazdan is a major river of Armenia. It starts at the northwest extremity of Lake Sevan and flows south through the Kotayk marz and Armenia's capital, Yerevan. It then joins the Aras River along the border with Turkey. A Hydro-electric plant is located on 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 Ovannes Khachatryan. It was completed in 1968.Design
The 44 meter stele symbolizes the national rebirth of Armenians. 12 slabs are positioned in a circle, representing the 12 lost provincesWestern Armenia
Western Armenia is a term, primarily used by Armenians, to refer to Armenian-inhabited areas of the Armenian Highland that were part of the Ottoman Empire and now are part of the Republic of Turkey....
in present day Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. In the center of the circle, at a depth of 1.5 meters, there is an eternal flame.
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
Johannes Lepsius
Johannes Lepsius was a German Protestant missionary, Orientalist, and humanist with a special interest in trying to prevent the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. He initially studied mathematics and philosophy in Munich and a PhD in 1180 with an already award-winning work...
, Franz Werfel
Franz Werfel
Franz Werfel was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet.- Biography :Born in Prague , Werfel was the first of three children of a wealthy manufacturer of gloves and leather goods. His mother, Albine Kussi, was the daughter of a mill owner...
, Armin T. Wegner, Henry Morgenthau Sr.
Henry Morgenthau, Sr.
Henry Morgenthau was a lawyer, businessman and United States ambassador, most famous as the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. He was father of the politician Henry Morgenthau, Jr. and the grandfather of Robert M. Morgenthau, who was the District Attorney of...
, Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a...
, 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 IIPope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
, President of France Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
, and other well-known social and political figures.
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
Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat is a snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone in Turkey. It has two peaks: Greater Ararat and Lesser Ararat .The Ararat massif is about in diameter...
.
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
Hayk Demoyan
Dr. Hayk Demoyan is the Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute in Yerevan, Armenia, a post he has held since 2005. The Museum-Institute’s aim is to accurately document and illustrate all materials related to the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923....
.
Trivia
- Boris YeltsinBoris YeltsinBoris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
, the first president of the Russian FederationPresident of the Russian FederationThe President of the Russian Federation is the head of state, supreme commander-in-chief and holder of the highest office within 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."
See also
- 1965 Yerevan Demonstrations
- Armenian GenocideArmenian GenocideThe Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
- Genocide Remembrance DayGenocide Remembrance DayGenocide Remembrance Day is a national holiday in Armenia and is observed by Armenians in dispersed communities around the world on April 24. It is held annually to commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide from 1915 to 1923...
- List of Armenian Genocide memorials