Arabkir Church, Yerevan © Nasser Ansari-Yer
Yerevan is the cultural and financial capital of Armenia and has in recent years developed into a pleasant, thriving and visitor-friendly hub of cosmopolitan life.
Armenia’s rapidly modernising capital sits at the foot of the mountains on the edge of the Ararat plain, straddling the gorge of the Hrazdan River which flows southwest from Lake Sevan to join the Arax south of the city.
The deep gorge skirts the centre of Yerevan on its western side and consequently many visitors only see it as they cross Victory Bridge into the city from Zvartnots International Airport.
Yerevan is the cultural and financial capital of Armenia and has in recent years developed into a pleasant, thriving and visitor-friendly hub of cosmopolitan life. Particularly around Republic Square, the central area also boasts some of the finest Soviet-era buildings in the whole of the former USSR, and among the new high-rise apartment blocks there is a surprising range of older architecture, owing largely to the fusion of Armenian and Russian styles, with a sprinkling of Persian influence too.