Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial

The Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial and Museum stands on a hill above the Hrazdan gorge in western Yerevan, Armenia, and commemorates the roughly 1.5 million Armenians killed in the Ottoman Empire from 1915. Armenians demonstrated in 1965 on the 50th anniversary, and the Soviet authorities then approved a memorial, designed by architects Arthur Tarkhanyan and Sashur Kalashyan and completed in 1967. The complex has three main elements. A 44-metre stele rises as a symbol of national rebirth, formed of two slabs, one split from the other. Twelve basalt slabs lean inward around a circular sunken area, representing the twelve lost provinces, with an eternal flame burning in the centre. A 100-metre wall of remembrance lists the towns and villages where massacres occurred. Visitors lay flowers around the flame, and every year on 24 April hundreds of thousands walk up to the memorial. The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, opened in 1995 beneath the monument, uses a chronological and documentary approach, presenting photographs, diplomatic reports, survivors' testimony, maps, personal objects and the response of foreign witnesses including missionaries and diplomats. Exhibits cover the 1915 deportations, the death marches into the Syrian desert, orphanages, international recognition, and the later development of the word genocide by Raphael Lemkin. Outside, a grove of trees planted by visiting dignitaries lines the approach. The memorial is maintained as an active site of mourning rather than a restored monument, and dress and behaviour are expected to be respectful. The museum is free to enter, and a visit usually takes about 90 minutes, including time at the flame and a short walk around the grounds. The hilltop also gives wide views of Yerevan and Mount Ararat.