Khachatur Abovyan House Museum
Khachatur Abovyan was born in Qanaker. In 1938, around 90 years after he vanished, a decision was made to turn his house into a museum. The house was reconstructed and the museum was opened to the public in November of 1939. The new building of the museum was constructed in 1978, which was followed by the reparation works carried out years later, in 2005.
In addition to that, the exposition was enriched with documents that bear great interest for the public. It consists of 12 parts giving details about his birthplace Kanaker, the study years in Ejmiatsin, Nersisyan School and in Dorpat, the 1826-1828 Russiam-Persian War, climbing Mount Ararat, his literary activity and disappearance. Drawings, sculptures, objects of applied art are also exhibited in the museum. Of special interest are the documents by Abovyan himself; these documents served as a basis to train teachers for Armenian schools.
Back in 2009 the museum and those who love Abovyan’s works or appreciate his literary heritage celebrated his 200th anniversary. And later the new exposition enriched with more valuable stuff was introduced to the visitors. It presently features materials related to the writer’s literary, pedagogical, research and social work, translations, manuscripts, works of art dedicated to the writer and so on.
In front of the House Musuem there is the statue to Khachatur Abovyan. The architect of the statue was Andreas Ter-Maruqyan. The decision to erect a statue to Khachatur Abovyan was made back in 1900s. In 1908 a competition for the statue was announced. Architect Ter-Maruqyan won it.
To make the statue appear as life-like as possible Maruqyan visited Abovyan’s house, talked to his relatives, saw the only picture left from him, then traveled to Tiflis, Georgia, where he met Armenian writers and only after that got to work. The architect was working in Paris, nevertheless it was soon clear there were no enough funds to pay for the statue expenses and therefore Ter-Maruqyan was not allowed to bring it to Yerevan. The statue was ultimately transferred to Yerevan in 1933, and after placing it in several places it eventually ended up erected in front of the house where the writer grew up and lived.
Ticket Prices
The ticket to the museum will cost 300 Dram for schoolchildren and 500 Dram for adults. Guided tours are also available. A guided tour in Armenian will cost you 2000 Dram, and in a foreign language in 2500 Dram.
Location: Yerevan, Qanaker Str. 2, Apt. 4
Tel.: (374 10) 281 687
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.abovyanmuseum.am/
