SARDARABAD MEMORIAL COMPLEX

In a beautiful park at the foot of the Ararat River and on the banks of the Arabian Sea, the memorial sacrifices to the standards of a gigantism that owes as much to Soviet statuary as to Babylonian art, which the orange tufa winged bulls at the entrance evoke for us. At the top of the steps, a high bell tower whose 9 bells ring out every year, the 24 mai, recalling those that rang the alarm bell of the general mobilization in 1918, calling the Armenians to a heroic effort to repel the Turks; there begins the "alley of the aigles ", a reference to the intrepid Armenian soldiers, which leads to the "victory wall", carved with Uarean-inspired bas-reliefs, from 55 m long and 7 m high. The building was constructed in 1968, in the wake of the Yerevan Genocide Memorial, by the architect R. Israélian, the bas-reliefs being by sculptor A. Harioutiounian.

This glorious page of military history is accurately illustrated in the first room at the bottom of the adjoining museum, which traces, with staff maps, photos and archival documents, the different phases of the battle; there are also photos, with dates of birth and death, of the Armenians who distinguished themselves there, unknown or legendary, such as General Andranik. Heroes who have preserved the identity of the nation, and this first part of the museum invites visitors to go back 3,000 years of history, through galleries with a less martial content, retracing the daily life of Armenians at different times and in different regions of Armenia. In addition to a multitude of objects, coins, weapons, jewelry and silverware, as well as the famous karas, the clay wine jars, from the sites of Erebouni and Dvin in particular, there are showcases depicting the Armenian way of life up to the genocide, which had struck Armenians before Sardarabad. Scenes of agricultural life are reconstructed, with the instruments, scythes, peasants used, represented in the costumes of the time, a 19th-century forge, and other activities related to handicrafts. The tour through Armenian history continues on the ^2nd floor, where original or reconstructed regional costumes are displayed, particularly from the region of Mouch and Sassoun in Western Armenia. These costumes from all the provinces of Armenia "come out of the museum" every year, from 24 to 28 mai, during the festivities organized for the anniversary of the First Republic.